Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 9: As the National Conference is not ready to give more than half a dozen seats to the Congress from Kashmir Valley in the coming Lok Sabha elections, the leadership of the grand-old-party is seriously thinking of exploring the possibility of having an alliance with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
Highly placed sources said that during with the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (organization) K C Venugopal, leaders from J&K suggested that the party should ally with PDP because the “arrogant” NC is not showing any interest in entering into an alliance with the party. Sources said that in the meeting, they were informed that after winning two Lok Sabha seats in the just-concluded Parliament elections, the National Conference leadership bluntly told the party leadership that only half a dozen seats would be given to Congress.
“Not only the National Conference is not ready to give more than half a dozen seats to the Congress but the party (NC) is also demanding a similar number of seats from Hindu majority areas, especially in Jammu district”, sou After winning two Lok Sabha seats in the Parliament elections, the NC leadership has said that only half a dozen seats would be given to Congress.
In a meeting with the AICC General Secretary (organization) K C Venugopal, J&K leaders stated that the “arrogant” NC is not showing any interest.
Congress leaders were unanimous that the NC leadership was not interested to ally with the party.
J&K Congress leaders are more inclined towards forming seat adjustment arrangements with the PDP.
Important to mention here that the NC president Dr. Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said that his party would not enter into an alliance with any other political party when assembly elections are held in the union territory.
“We will not enter into any alliance, totally not,” Abdullah told reporters.
As reported earlier, rather than relying on the National Conference’s support for the assembly elections, J&K Congress leaders are more inclined towards forming seat adjustment arrangements with the PDP in certain areas of the Kashmir Valley.
Previously, it was reported that the opposition parties’ meeting scheduled for August 7 in Jammu was postponed due to the unavailability of the former Chief Minister and National Conference president, Dr. Farooq Abdullah.
Despite CPI(M) leader MY Tarigami stating that the meeting date was set after consulting with Dr. Farooq Abdullah, the meeting was indefinitely postponed the following day due to the National Conference chief’s non-availability. | 