The Congress seems to be cosying up to the seven-party alliance in Jammu and Kashmir that is campaigning for the restoration of Article 370, now that it is free of the compulsions of the Bihar elections.
Farooq Abdullah, chairperson of the alliance, on Sunday said the Congress too was a part of the coalition.
He said Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir had told him the party would jointly contest the upcoming district development council elections with the alliance.
Mir confirmed meeting Farooq but said consultations were under way within the Congress and a decision would be announced by Tuesday.
The Congress had been part of the “Gupkar Declaration” signed on August 4 last year, a day ahead of the amendment of Article 370, that resolved to resist any move to scrap the state’s special status.
However, the Congress had skipped last month’s deliberations during which seven parties — including the National Conference, People’s Democratic Party, People’s Conference and the CPM — floated the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration to fight for the restoration of statehood and special status.
Congress sources said the party had stayed away from the alliance because of the compulsions of the Bihar elections.
“That (the Congress joining the alliance) could have given the BJP an opportunity to repeat the claim that we are anti-national, although there’s nothing anti-national about it,” a source said.
Mir, however, said it was too early to say whether the Congress would contest elections jointly with the alliance.
“So far the truth is that I had a meeting with Farooq Sahib. Our general secretary in charge (of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajni Patil) has come and we’ll have a meeting with senior leaders. By tomorrow we will officially make our position clear,” Mir told The Telegraph.
Farooq had told reporters on Sunday that the Congress was already a part of the alliance.
“Who told you they have separated? They had come to meet me today…. You clear the misconception,” he had said in Jammu on being asked whether the alliance would have any dealings with the Congress.
“We are fighting elections unitedly and the Congress is with us. Mir Sahib has told me we will fight elections together.”
Leaders of the People’s Alliance are in Jammu to garner popular support against last year’s amendment of Article 370 and the new laws that allow outsiders to own land in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a surprise development on Saturday, the alliance had decided to contest the maiden district development council elections in the Union Territory, which begin on November 28.
The alliance claims its decision was dictated by the need to prevent the BJP taking advantage of the vacuum and winning seats, and to let the world know that its demand for restoration of the special status enjoys popular support.
All the parties in the alliance had boycotted every election since 2018 in anticipation of the Centre’s plans to scrap Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
Former chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti told a news conference in Jammu on Monday that the BJP’s policies were prompting Kashmir’s youth to pick up arms.
“The BJP has not only repealed (key provisions of) Article 370 but also erased the glory of Babasaheb Ambedkar, who had incorporated the article in the Indian Constitution,” she said.
