Amid the ongoing political turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir, Sajjad Lone, leader of the People's Conference, on Wednesday, 21 November, staked claim to form government in the state with the support of the 25-legislator strong Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and "more than 18" other lawmakers.
Once a separatist leader, Sajjad Gani Lone joined mainstream politics after his father and prominent J&K leader Abdul Gani was assassinated in Srinagar in 2002. Even after taking over the reins of the People’s Conference, Lone continued to be part of separatist politics but differences with hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani ultimately forced him to part ways with the separatist group.
In 2004, he parted ways with his brother Bilal Gani Lone to float his own faction of the party. He went onto contest the 2009 general elections as an independent candidate from the Baramulla constituency, but was defeated.
Lone was elected to the State Assembly from the Handwara constituency after the 2014 elections. A few months prior to the election, he had made the headlines for meeting with Narendra Modi in Delhi in connection with the then ongoing J&K elections.
Born on 9 December 1966, Sajjad Lone did his schooling from Burn Hall School in Srinagar and later completed his graduation from the University of Wales College of Cardiff, UK. He married a Pakistani national of Kashmiri origin, Asma Khan, in 2000 and the couple have two children – Emad Lone and Adnan Lone.
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