Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 19: Notwithstanding repeated statements of Dr. Farooq Abdullah to contest Assembly elections, the National Conference leadership has opened a channel of communication with Congress’s central leadership for a pre-poll alliance.
Highly placed sources said that top leadership of the National Conference approached the Congress high command to jointly fight the Assembly elections.
“Initial rounds of talks were held in cordial manners as leaderships of both the parties have shown interest in entering into a pre-poll alliance”, sources said, adding, “Congress and National Conference leadership have decided to leave over a dozen seats for each other in Jammu and Kashmir provinces respectively”.
The newly appointed president of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Tariq Hameed Karra also revealed that the National Conference leadership has approached the party's high command for a pre-poll alliance.
Sources said that the National Conference lead Top NC leadership has approached the Congress high command to jointly fight the Assembly elections.
Leaders of both the parties have shown interest in entering into a pre-poll alliance.
NC has been demanding seats from Jammu, Samba, and Kathua districts.
The Congress has been demanding seats from the NC in South, Central and North Kashmir.
“The Congress, on the other hand, has been demanding a similar number of seats from the National Conference in Kashmir Valley”, sources said and added that Congress has staked its claim on half a dozen seats in south Kashmir and some seats from central and north Kashmir.
Notably, the Congress high command has constituted a four-member committee comprising Tariq Hameed Kara, Tara Chand, Raman Bhalla, and Vikar Rasool Wani to continue talks with the National Conference to finalize seat sharing agreements.
Important to mention here that the National Conference and Congress had jointly contested the recently held Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
Although Congress failed to win any of the two seats the party had contested in Jammu province, the vote share of the party increased due to support of the National Conference. | 