New Delhi: The Congress-National Conference alliance will reflect the aspirations of the people and present an alternative to the BJP in the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. “Since the removal of Article 370, and the carving out of two UTs from the erstwhile state, there have been no elections over the past five years despite claims by the BJP that the situation in the border state has become better. The INDIA bloc will reflect the concerns of the locals over the protection of regional identity and issues like jobs and security,” AICC general secretary in charge of J&K Bharatsinh Solanki told ETV Bharat.
“There is already joint campaigning happening and the alliance will win all the six seats in J&K and Ladakh. The Congress and NC have served a coalition government in the past, which worked for the people unlike the BJP-PDP government, which turned out to be a failed experiment,” he said.
According to AICC insiders, a Lok Sabha seat-sharing pact was finalised with the NC, an old Congress ally, but the other key regional player PDP will also remain part of the INDIA bloc. “There was an issue between the two regional parties over dominance in the Kashmir valley. The PDP may not be contesting but party chief Mehbooba Mufti would remain with us. She addressed an INDIA rally in Delhi recently,” a senior AICC functionary said.
The PDP has named candidates for three seats in the Kashmir Valley, Waheed Parra from Srinagar, Mir Fayaz from Baramulla and Mehbooba Mufti from Anantnag-Rajouri. The PDP will support the Congress on the two seats in the Jammu region, Udhampur and Jammu.
In the previous 2019 national polls, the Congress and the NC contested separately. The Congress could not win a seat, but the NC won three seats. The BJP also won three seats, including two in the Jammu region and Ladakh. The BJP had polarised the Jammu voters in 2019. But, that issue will not click for them now. Our candidates are putting up a good fight,” AICC secretary Ashish Dua told ETV Bharat.
“The Congress and NC teamed up recently for the Ladakh Hill Council elections and got very good results. The same will happen in the Lok Sabha polls,” he said. According to Dua, who has worked in J&K earlier, the Congress hopes to build on the support generated during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, which culminated in Srinagar on Jan 30, 2023. “Our leader raised the same issues of regional identity and social security,” he said.
J&K Congress spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said the alliance is working on the ground as shown by the enthusiastic NC workers supporting Congress candidates in Udhampur Lal Singh and Jammu Raman Bhalla. Recently, NC leader Farooq Abdullah welcomed the Congress manifesto, which promised immediate restoration of full statehood to J&K, if the alliance was voted to power. Both Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah have been attending the INDIA rallies in the past. “There may be some small issues between the parties, but the bigger focus is the united opposition in the border region,” Sharma told ETV Bharat.
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