New Delhi: As Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge are set to begin their two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, all eyes are set on the pre-poll alliance between the Congress and National Conference (NC) for the upcoming Assembly elections. The two leaders are visiting J&K “for key meetings” in preparation for the upcoming Assembly elections, said All India Congress general secretary KC Venugopal.
The Election Commission recently announced much-awaited Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18, 25 and October 1 with counting of votes on October 4.
Gandhi and Kharge will engage in extensive meetings with leaders and workers in Jammu and discuss seat sharing on Wednesday. After their interaction in Jammu, the duo will fly to Srinagar on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, they will go to Kashmir and have a meeting with the NC leadership and later hold a press conference in Srinagar.
Are Congress, NC willing to stitch pre-poll alliance?
Newly-appointed Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra on Tuesday said the doors of his party are open for pre-poll alliance in the Union territory with parties opposing BJP’s policies and way of its functioning. He also said that the NC had approached his party’s central leaders. Karra said thought the Congress is open to talks with like-minded parties to strike a “respectable alliance” for the Jammu and Kashmir polls, the parameters for such a tie-up would be different from the Lok Sabha elections.
According to sources, the Congress party has expressed it desire to contest 40 out of 90 seats in the Union Territory. However, NC leader Omar Abdullah is willing to give only 25-30 seats to the Congress. The Congress party also wants to join hands with the PDP for the upcoming polls. However, the National Conference is not in favour of a pre-poll tie-up with Mehbooba Mufti’s party, owing to its previous association with the BJP, the sources said. If the alliance talks with PDP fail, the Congress and NC may not field candidates against strong candidates of Mufti’s daughter Iltiza and PDP, they added.