New Delhi: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has asked the Jammu and Kashmir leaders to be fully prepared for the forthcoming local body polls in the Union Territory to counter the BJP. The former border state was converted into two Union Territories Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in 2019 by the Centre, which scrapped Article 370 of the Constitution that granted Special Status to the border state.
The local body polls are likely to be held in August-September. Accordingly, Kharge reviewed the poll preparations in the UT, along with AICC general secretary organisation KC Venugopal, AICC in charge of J&K Rajani Patil, state unit chief Viqar Rasul and other senior leaders on May 30. “The Congress chief has asked us to be fully prepared to counter the BJP. He reviewed the poll preparations and asked the state unit to fight the local body polls unitedly and highlight the people’s issues,” AICC in charge of J&K Rajani Patil told ETV Bharat.
The Congress has been demanding Assembly polls and restoration of statehood at the earliest over the past few years and now expects the Centre may announce the local body polls over the coming months. “The local body polls are likely to be held first. The Assembly polls may come later. For the people, restoration of statehood is the top issue. The people are not happy since the state was converted into two UTs. They want statehood back. As J&K is a border area, there is no industry and therefore no jobs for the youth. So, jobs are going to be another major issue,” said Patil.
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According to the AICC in charge, the Congress had received a good response from the locals when Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra culminated in Srinagar on January 30. “The people now value the Congress rule in the state,” she said. Former J&K unit chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir told ETV Bharat: “The locals feel cheated. The situation has hardly improved since 2019 contrary to the Centre’s claims. We have already started going to the people.”
According to Mir, the BJP has a support base in the Jammu region, but is nowhere in the Kashmir Valley. “The BJP had helped float new parties like J&K Apni Party headed by Altaf Bukhari and supported Sajjad Lone’s J&K People’s Conference, but have now understood that the new players may not be able to do much for them as they are not getting good response from the locals,” said Mir.
The former J&K Congress chief claimed that the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), floated by former veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad, too, would not be able to achieve electoral success in the UT. “Most DPAP leaders have joined the Congress. Some of them also met Kharge,” he said.
According to Mir, the Election Commission and the J&K administration have completed the delimitation of constituencies and published the final voters' list, which indicated the Centre was contemplating holding local body polls to test the ground. “The local body elections would indicate the mood among the people and push the democratic process in the UT,” he said. The Congress veteran pointed out that if the Centre could host the G20 delegates in Srinagar, they would certainly be able to hold the polls as well.
