Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 22: The Congress and the National Conference has forged an alliance for all the 90 seats to contest the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections to be held in three phases on September 18, September 25 and October 1.
The NC president Farooq Abdullah on Thursday said his party’s alliance with the Congress was final on all 90 seats. Mr Abdullah said the pre-poll alliance with the Congress would be signed in the presence of leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who earlier called on the National Conference leadership at his residence.
He also did not rule out the presence of the Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in a pre- or post-poll alliance. “We had a good meeting, in a cordial atmosphere. 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 about the meeting with the Congress leaders, adding that the CPI(M)’s MY Tarigami is also a part of the alliance.
Asked about Gandhi’s assurance earlier in the day that it was the priority of the Congress and the INDIA bloc to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, he said he was hopeful that full statehood with all powers would be restored. “Statehood is very important for all of us. This has been promised to us. This state has witnessed bad days and we hope it will be restored with its full powers. For that, we stand together with the INDIA bloc,” he added.
The former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir said there was no question of a common minimum programme. “Our common programme is to fight the elections to defeat the divisive forces that exist in the country,” he said. About an alliance with the PDP, he said: “Let us first go through the polls, then we will look into those things,” he said. “No doors are closed for anybody.”
Questioned about the seat-sharing arrangement for the elections, Abdullah sought patience. “Everything will come out before the first phase,” he said. He also refused to answer if he will contest the polls. He said he was happy that the meeting with the Congress leadership was held in a cordial atmosphere. “To tell you honestly, my heart is very happy today because the way we attempted to make this country stronger in a cordial atmosphere,” he added.
Earlier addressing the Congress workers along with the party president Mallikarjun Kharge in Srinagar, Mr Rahul Gandhi said an alliance would be formed for the upcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir – “while maintaining the respect of the Congress party workers.” He said the party workers have “dedicated their whole lives to protecting the Congress ideology and carrying forward the party’s line of thinking. I am aware of the difficulties you have dealt with.”
He said the party leadership has told PCC president Tariq Hameed Karra that an alliance for the upcoming elections would not compromise on the Congress workers’ and leaders’ respect. He said issues that plague people in other states of the country, such as unemployment, also affect the youth of J&K.
“We have dealt a blow to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s confidence after the Lok Sabha polls. It was the ideology of the Congress and the INDIA alliance that made this happen. This was done respectfully, we did not use any bad words against them,” he said.
The party leadership is on a two-day visit to J&K, and after concluding their visit in Srinagar, Gandhi and Kharge are travelling to Jammu. While he refrained from mentioning Article 370, Gandhi said, “It is a priority of the Congress party and also the India alliance to restore statehood in J&K as soon as possible.” He said while it was expected that this could be done prior to the assembly polls, “elections have been declared and it is a step forward and we are hoping that statehood will be restored as soon as possible and the democratic rights of the people of J&K will be restored”.
Highlighting that it is the first time since Independence that a state has been downgraded to a union territory, Gandhi said, “We were very clear in our national manifesto as well that it is a priority for us that the people of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh get their democratic rights back.”
Flanked by Kharge and senior leader K C Venugopal, Gandhi said the party would “help” the people of J&K, however they can. “The Congress party is always there. We understand that you are going through a very difficult period, a tough period. We want to remove violence,” he said.
In his statement, Kharge said, “This was the first meeting after the polls were announced… We are here to seek the views of local leaders and workers for the elections and an alliance. Rahul ji is interested in taking everyone along in this election.” He said that a big achievement of the INDIA alliance had been to “stop a dictator from achieving brute majority.”
Speaking on the announcement of elections in J&K after a six-year delay, Kharge said, “They downgraded the state of J&K into a UT and then people were not given any rights. There is no legislative council, no panchayat or municipality. The people have been kept away from democracy.”
He added that the elections have finally been announced but only on the directions of the Supreme Court in its December 2023 judgement. The Congress president said the party would work towards addressing unemployment, investment and protections for “jal, jungle, zameen” of the people of J&K. “They are trying to snatch these from you but we will not allow them to do it,” Kharge said.
Mr Gandhi arrived at Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday to hold meetings with senior Congress leaders and with the National Conference (NC) leaders, Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah. The two parties had been holding backchannel meetings to finalise seat-sharing arrangements in Jammu and Kashmir ahead of the Assembly polls.
