Srinagar: The Congress in Jammu and Kashmir has said that remains a part of the grouping, People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) and would fight the upcoming District Development Council polls “together”.
The Congress said it had maintained a “tactical” distance from the forum during the Bihar elections. “We are the original signatories of the Gupkar declaration and henceforth will actively work with Gupkar Alliance,” a senior leader told News 18.
The Congress has also decided to fight jointly the upcoming District Development Council polls. The eight-phase polls will begin from November 28. ”We are fighting the elections together and our plank is the restoration of the Article 370,” Saifuddin Soz, senior Congress leader and former Union Minister, told News 18.
Soz said the fresh set of laws issued by the Centre on land, industry and scholarships were meant to disempower the people of the Jammu and Kashmir and the non-BJP parties have right to fight these draconian measures. “So all of us are together,” he said.
In Jammu, both National Conference president Farooq Abdullah — who is the chairperson of the Alliance — and his deputy, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, confirmed that Congress was fighting the DDC polls jointly with the forum.
The Congress had deliberately avoided meetings of the alliance, giving rise to speculations that they had left the conglomerate.
An insider in the Congress said the party had deliberately skipped the meetings because it did not want the BJP to target it during the Bihar polls. ”We remained absent because of the utterances made by leaders of the alliance,” the insider said.
By ‘leaders of the alliance, the insider was apparently referring to Abdullah and Mufti. While Abdullah had stated that China had a role in forcing New Delhi to undo the revocation of Article 370, Mufti said she won’t carry the tricolour in her hand if the flag of the former state was not restored by the government.
BJP leaders had criticised the Congress and the Gupkar Alliance for their opposition to Article 370 in the election rallies in Bihar.
Congress JK chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir met Abdullah on Sunday and assured him of his support to fight the elections jointly. In fact, Abdullah would be clearing the final list of the candidates to be fielded in elections, News18 has learned.
The Congress is issuing a press release by evening to confirm that they will fight polls as part of the alliance.
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