Congress open to talks with like-minded parties for ‘respectable alliance’ in J&K

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 J&K unit chief, Tariq Hameed Karra, said on Monday.

In an interview with PTI, Karra also said Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party has been “outrightly rejected” by the people who have “punished” the outfit for the “idea of leaving the Congress”.

The former MP said restoration of statehood is of paramount importance for the Congress and accused the Centre of taking the “unconstitutional” step of relegating a state to a Union Territory.

Karra, who became the J&K Congress chief last Friday replacing Vikar Rasool Wani, said a call is already there for all secular parties opposed to the “hegemonic attitude” of the BJP to unite.

Asked if the Congress will align with parties such as the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples 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 and assembly elections. So, we will have to talk within ourselves also, to my leadership in Jammu and Kashmir. We have been given assurance by the leadership here in Delhi that there shall be a respectable alliance because the parameters fixed at that time (parliamentary polls) were different which I don’t think would be applicable this time,” he said.

“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 who are fighting against the hegemonic attitude of the BJP. We have to have a respectable alliance but the parameters are different this time,” Karra said.

The NC and the Congress forged an alliance in the Lok Sabha elections. However, Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP was not a part of the alliance and had accused the NC of violating the spirit of the Gupkar alliance.

Karra, 69, belongs to a political family from Srinagar. He had joined the Congress in 2017 after quitting the Multi-led party.

Karra was a strong critic of the Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance.

Karra had won the Lok Sabha election from Srinagar in 2014, handing National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah his first-ever electoral defeat in four decades.

“I have been appointed PCC chief at this juncture and I’m happy that the Congress as a whole, Mr Rahul Gandhi and Mr (Mallikarjun) 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 said.

As far as the prospects of the Congress are concerned, he said Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra earned a huge amount of goodwill in J&K.

“Even in the Lok Sabha elections, which were fought on that goodwill factor, we did not get any direct benefit but others did. I’m optimistic that the environment there, the mood of the people, the national scenario, factoring in all those, the Congress will fare well in the elections,” he said.

On issues the Congress would fight the assembly polls on, Karra said political stands are clear as far as the Congress is concerned and it wants full restoration of democracy. “They have to restore statehood... also laws which were forced on us have to be looked into. Those things have to be taken into consideration,” he said.

Karra accused the BJP of adopting a “step-motherly” attitude towards Jammu and Kashmir, alleging that it has used the UT for minting votes countrywide. “This is the first time a full state has been reduced to a UT. In the Constitution, there is mention of converting a UT into a state but no mention of converting a state into a UT. So this break-up of the state... such unconstitutional things they have been done,” he said.

On the recent terror attacks, Karra said people have been suffering from militancy for three decades. “While abrogating Article 370, the BJP claimed henceforth there will be no militancy, and only room for development and investment but now the world is seeing how much militancy has been curbed. They have only shifted the goalposts,” Karra said. The terror incidents are a “direct failure” of the central government and state administration.

While Karra has replaced Wani as the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee, party president Kharge has also appointed two working presidents for Jammu and Kashmir -- Tara Chand and Raman Bhalla.

The three-phase elections to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly will be held on September 18, September 25 and October 1.

The Congress is hoping to continue with its political revival by inflicting losses on the BJP in the Jammu region, where the two parties are the main contestants.

Two regional parties, the National Conference and PDP, have won most of the seats in the Kashmir Valley between them in the past elections.

In the last assembly in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014, the BJP won 25 of the 87 seats and joined hands with the PDP to form a government under the leadership of the regional party’s leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

The Jammu and Kashmir assembly now has 90 seats following delimitation.