J&K polls: Cong, NC join hands; Rahul Gandhi vows to fight for statehood

There is still no clarity whether the Mehbooba Mufti-led People's Democratic Party (PDP) will be part of the Congress-NC alliance

The Congress leadership on Thursday promised to fight for restoring Jammu and Kashmir’s (J&K’s) statehood, and asserted that it wanted opposition parties in the Union Territory to contest the forthcoming Assembly polls as part of a single alliance.

The Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) announced that it has sealed an alliance with the Congress on all 90 Assembly seats of J&K.

There is still no clarity whether the Mehbooba Mufti-led People's Democratic Party (PDP) will be part of the alliance. 

To a question whether the PDP could be a part of the alliance, Abdullah said, “No doors are closed for anybody”.

 

He said the seat sharing arrangement will be announced before each phase of the elections

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, were on a visit to J&K where they met party workers and the leadership of its ally NC.

In the recent Lok Sabha polls, the Congress and NC had a seat sharing formula with each other, but not with the PDP. The PDP and NC are both constituents of the Congress-led INDIA bloc.

On his meeting with Kharge and Gandhi, Abdullah said: “The alliance is on track and, God willing, it will run smoothly. The alliance is final. It will be signed this evening and the alliance is on all 90 seats.”

He said Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and former legislator M Y Tarigami will also be a part of the alliance.

The three-phase elections to the 90-member J&K Assembly will be held on September 18, September 25 and October 1. The results will be declared on October 4.

Explaining the need for an alliance in J&K, Kharge said at a press conference in Srinagar that the INDIA bloc “stopped a dictator from coming to power with an absolute majority at the Centre.”

He pointed out that the government has been forced to roll back several of its decisions or refer proposed amendments to the Waqf law to a joint committee of Parliament.

Earlier in the day, addressing party workers, Gandhi said the INDIA bloc has dented Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “confidence”.

Alluding to former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who quit the Congress to float his own party, Gandhi said some people couldn’t withstand the difficult times and ran away.