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| Azad's DPAP 'Outrightly Rejected' by people, punished for 'Idea Of Leaving Cong': JKPCC chief Karra | | | Agencies
NEW DELHI, Aug 19: The Congress is open to talks with like-minded parties to strike a "respectable alliance" for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls but the parameters for such a tie-up would be different from the Lok Sabha elections, the party's newly-appointed Jammu and Kashmir chief Tariq Hameed Karra said on Monday.
In an interview with PTI, Karra also said Ghulam Nabi Azad's Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) had been "outrightly rejected" by the people, who "punished" the outfit for the "idea of leaving the Congress".
The former MP said "restoration of statehood" was of "paramount" importance for the Congress and accused the Centre of taking the "unconstitutional" step of relegating a state to a Union Territory (UT).
Karra, who became the Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief last week, replacing Vikar Rasool Wani, said a call was already there for all secular parties opposed to the "hegemonic attitude" of the BJP to unite.
Asked if the Congress would align with parties such as the National Conference (NC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Karra said, "The previous coalition (for parliamentary polls) had different parameters; it was at the national level and parameters are always different between parliamentary elections and assembly elections." "So, we will have to talk within ourselves also, to my leadership in Jammu and Kashmir. We have been given assurances by the leadership here in Delhi that there shall be a respectable alliance because the parameters fixed at that time (parliamentary polls) were different that I don't think would be applicable this time," he told PTI.
"We have to start discussions immediately after assuming charge and I have to have discussions with my colleagues and then only we will decide. We are open to talks with like-minded parties that are fighting against the hegemonic attitude of the BJP. We are open to that. We have to have a respectable alliance but the parameters are different this time," Karra asserted.
Later, after his arrival in Srinagar, Karra said the NC and the PDP had opened channels with the Congress' central leadership for talks over an alliance in the assembly polls.
"To my knowledge, the NC has already approached the central leadership for an alliance," he told reporters.
Asked if the PDP had approached the Congress for an alliance, he said, "At some level, talks have happened." The NC and the Congress forged an alliance for the Lok Sabha polls. However, Mehbooba Mufti's PDP was not part of the alliance and had accused the NC of violating the spirit of the Gupkar alliance.
Karra (69) belongs to a prominent political family from Srinagar. He joined the Congress in 2017 after quitting the Mehbooba Multi-led party.
He was a strong critic of the PDP-BJP alliance.
Karra won the Lok Sabha election from Srinagar in 2014, handing NC's Farooq Abdullah his first electoral defeat in four decades.
"I have been appointed PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) chief at this juncture and I am very happy that the Congress party as a whole, Mr Rahul Gandhi and Mr Kharge in particular, have bestowed trust in me. Now I don't think there is any time to take on other organisational work. It is time to jump into the election fray directly," Karra told PTI.
As far as the prospects of the Congress are concerned, Karra said former party chief Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra earned huge goodwill in Jammu and Kashmir.
"Even in the parliamentary elections, which were fought on that goodwill factor, we did not get any direct benefit of that but others did get the benefit of that goodwill factor of Rahul Gandhi," Karra said.
"I am very optimistic that the environment there, the mood of the people, the national scenario, factoring in all those, the Congress will fare very well in the coming elections," he asserted.
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