news details |
|
|
| No pre-poll alliance in J&K; NC, PDP, BJP, Cong to fight alone | | Assembly elections-2014 | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, June 22: With all the parties making it clear that they would be contesting upcoming assembly elections all alone, it seems clear that there would now be post-poll alliances but no pre-poll arrangement for winning elections.
The four major parties, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), National Conference (NC), People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress would all be contesting assembly polls without forging any alliances.
Congress did make a last minute effort to reach out to its estranged coalition partner PDP, which recently had leads from 41 Assembly segments in recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, failed to yield desired results.
Ex-Minister and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday met PDP's patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed at his Gupkar residence. Though both the parties are tight-lipped about the meeting, sources said Azad wanted to create some atmosphere for the Assembly polls, which are due in October-November later this year.
Two-hour long high-level meeting between the PDP and Congress leaders comes six years after the two parted ways in 2008, following the Amarnath land agitation. PDP has indicated of having turned down the offer of holding any pre-poll alliance but kept options open saying alliance would be forged only after assembly poll results. PDP, which has made some inroads into Jammu region where the BJP has some edge, may create hurdles for the Congress to win assembly seats if it fields candidates from Muslim-majority pockets. Azad reportedly raised this issue too. Azad's meeting with Mufti reflects the desperation of the party to regain its footing in the state where it failed to win a single parliament seat.
Besides, the Congress, according to the parliamentary polls results, is leading only from 10 seats, six down from 18 seats in assembly polls. Azad's meeting also dealt a blow at the chances of Congress striking a deal with its alliance partner. NC has held a meeting on June 16 where leaders had expressed dissatisfaction with the pre-poll alliance with the Congress.
Congress is now planning to field own candidates from the Kashmir valley, where it fought the parliamentary polls together with the NC and received a drubbing. The coalition performed badly amid the reports of cross voting by the party cadre and at places many abstaining from casting votes in favour of coalition candidates.
Congress is likely to field own candidates from the Kashmir valley. Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief Saif-ud-Din Soz said that Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi would take the final decision on a pre-poll alliance. Soz, who also left for Delhi along with Azad, may finalise the list of candidates with the party high command. "I met Azad sahib and discussed the party matters relating to mandates for the Legislative Assembly polls scheduled later this year and whether the party should go for a pre-poll alliance with NC or not," said Soz. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
