A year after losing both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, Opposition National Conference today launched its statewide membership drive here.
The membership drive programme, presided over by the party president Farooq Abdullah and working president Omar Abdullah, took place at the Nawa-e-Subah headquarters of the party, a party spokesman said here.
Speaking on the occasion, Farooq Abdullah said, "National Conference was not among those parties which was found and financed by covert agencies as has been recently revealed about other parties but was an institution that has always struggled for social justice and for the political honour of the state and its people".
"National Conference has always drawn its strength from its workers and from the people whom we strive to serve and represent. Our workers are our biggest resources and it is their commitment and dedication that forms the backbone of the party. We do not depend on slush funds unlike others and nor were we patronized by covert forces to fragment the representational character and voice of the people of Jammu and Kashmir," he said.
Attacking the PDP-BJP coalition government in the state, the senior Abdullah said that the membership drive came at a time when the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been "disappointed and fooled by the two parties in the ruling dispensation".
Addressing the party workers, Abdullah said the party will be focusing on reaching out to people especially the youths through the membership drive.
"National Conference has always been a party for all three regions of the State and for people of all religions, castes and languages and this membership drive will reach the doors of people far and wide and the youth will be our special focus," Abdullah said.
