Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP are part of the Gupkar Alliance (file)
Srinagar:
Congress is a member of the People’s Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) – an alliance of major J&K political parties fighting to restore special status – and will contest district-level elections as part of the group, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah said on Sunday.
Mr. Abdullah, who is also president of the PAGD, underlined: “We fight the elections together”.
“Where did they go their separate ways? There should be no misconceptions. Congress is part of the alliance and together we are fighting the DDC (District Development Council) elections,” he said.
Mr Abdullah’s comment came a day after Congress said it would present its own candidates for the DDC election, which will take place between November 28 and December 22.
When asked to respond he said: “When you heard that … yesterday was different and today Mir sahib (GA Mir, J&K Congress leader) came to meet me and said we are fighting the elections together. “
“They are together this time. National Conference, Congress, PDP. People’s Conference and the rest. The situation is such that they should be together and seen in public to be together,” said Congressman Saifuddin Soz, appearing to confirm the coming of his party. on board with the group.
Speculation that Congress would stay away from the PAGD intensified after it missed scheduled meetings. Additionally, at the end of last month, GA Mir appeared to downplay discussions about membership in Congress; he said the decision would be taken by the central party leadership in Delhi.
However, Mr. Mir also explained that he missed meetings due to health issues and scheduling conflicts. He said he did not feel well when the first meeting (October 15) was called and that he was not in Srinagar by the time of the second (October 24).
Sources said Congress sought to move away from the J&K group until after the Bihar election vote – where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP made Article 370 a topic of survey.
Now that the vote is over (the third and final phase ended on Saturday) and the PAGD has announced its participation in local elections this month, Congress has joined the bandwagon.
The PAGD – a grouping of seven parties, including Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP, is seen as a major political development after the central government withdrew its special status in August last year.
The alliance said its goal was to prevent the BJP from capturing the political landscape of J&K.
“This space is too sacred to be left to the invaders. It is the most sacred space of democracy. We will not allow it to be invaded by the invaders,” said Sajjad Lone of the J&K People’s Alliance.
