Former alliance partners Congress and National Conference on Thursday decided to ‘unitedly’ contest the upcoming Assembly polls by forging a pre-poll alliance in Jammu and Kashmir.
By finally stitching the deal, the National Conference has also put to rest all the speculations about the possibility of the post-poll alliance by the Kashmir-based mainstream regional parties with the ruling dispensation in New Delhi.
The alliance partners have decided to contest all 90 seats as per the terms and conditions of the pre-poll alliance.
The deal was struck between the two parties at the residence of Dr Farooq Abdullah in Srinagar. Omar Abdullah also attended the crucial meeting.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge after addressing the workers meeting at a private hotel in Srinagar visited the Gupkar Road residence of Dr Abdullah where they held a closed-door meeting with the top brass of the National Conference discussing the contours of the pre-poll alliance.
Soon after the meeting, the National Conference president Dr Farooq formally announced that the pre-poll alliance with Congress is final, and will be approved by this evening.
“The alliance is on track and it will go on well with God’s grace. It is final and will be approved by this evening.”
The NC president said Congress, NC and CPI(M) are on the same page and will fight Assembly elections together. He hoped that with the collective efforts of the alliance, the Statehood of Jammu and Kashmir would be restored.
However, he maintained that doors are still open for everyone to join the alliance and give a befitting reply to those who damaged the country’s institutions and its secular fabric.
To a query, he replied that the meeting with Kharge and Rahul took place in a very cordial atmosphere. The leaders from both parties have been entrusted with the responsibility of deciding how many seats NC was willing to leave for Congress in the Valley and how many seats Congress was ready to concede for the National Conference across the Jammu region.
Meanwhile, addressing a workers’ meeting in Srinagar, Rahul said it is our priority in the Congress party and also in the INDIA Block to restore Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir as soon as possible.
He said Congress is expecting the region gets Statehood before Assembly polls but “polls were announced which is a step forward.” “We hope to see democracy restored,” he said and reiterated that it was for the first time since Independence that a State was reduced to a Union Territory.
“I have heard and seen UTs being converted into states but J&K is an exception. We have made it clear in our election manifesto that it was our priority to restore the democratic rights of the people of J&K and Ladakh.
Speaking on the occasion, All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief, Mallikarjun Kharge said that efforts are on to forge an alliance based on feedback from “our local leaders.” “We want to keep the entire opposition along,” he said. Kharge said that Congress is committed to ensuring the return of statehood.
He said that BJP couldn’t ensure elections in J&K. “The party announced polls under pressure in the wake of Supreme Court directions,” the AICC chief said.
“I want to put it on record that BJP can’t suppress the peoples’ voices anymore in J&K. Congress is committed to work for the welfare of the people of J&K.”
About Jammu and Kashmir, Kharge said not a single promise made by the BJP to the people of the region before elections has been fulfilled.
“Not a single promise made to the people of Jammu and Kashmir before polls have been kept. They are all jumla,” Kharge said.
The saffron party downgraded the erstwhile state into a Union Territory and the people here were not given any rights, he said, adding that there is no legislative council, no panchayat or municipality. “The people have been kept away from democracy,” Kharge said.
The Congress leaders interacted with the party workers in Jammu and Srinagar to get feedback about the party’s grassroots-level preparations for the Assembly polls.
