NEW DELHI/ SRINAGAR: The National Conference (NC) and Congress are likely to form a pre-poll alliance in Jammu and Kashmir ahead of the Assembly polls. . The NC and Congress have yet to decide on seat sharing and the decision is expected within next day or two after one more round of talks between the leaders from the parties.
The meeting gave out a clear message – despite serious differences over the seat-sharing formula, the top leadership of both parties wanted to fight the assembly elections together. According to a  top sources in Congress party The Congress and National Conference’s pre-poll alliance was finalised after Rahul Gandhi visited Farooq Abdullah’s residence in Srinagar today.
This is the fist time since 1987 when NC and Congress have entered into a pre-poll alliance in Jammu and Kashmir.  “We had a good meeting, in a cordial atmosphere. The alliance is on track and god willing, it will go smoothly. The alliance is final. It will be signed this evening and the alliance is on all 90 seats,” said Farooq Abdullah. The announcement came after an hour-long meeting between leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Omar and Farooq Abdullah at their Gupkar home in Srinagar.
“There will be an alliance (for the assembly elections) but it will be while maintaining the respect of the workers of the Congress party,” Gandhi was quoted telling workers by a news report. Jammu and Kashmir, which last held Assembly polls in 2014, will hold elections in three phases on September 18, September 25 and October 1 on 90 Assembly seats. Results are expected to be declared on October 4.
The NC and Congress held a late-night meeting in Srinagar to discuss the details of the alliance, focusing primarily on the allocation of seats between the two parties. Congress wants to contest 12 seats in the Kashmir Valley, while offering 12 seats to the NC in the Jammu division. The NC and Congress, which have contested elections together in the past, have agreed in principle to join forces, with seat-sharing talks currently underway.

In the 2014 assembly elections, the Congress and NC had contested separately. The grand old party could secure only 12 of 86 it contested, while NC won just 13 of 85. The PDP emerged as the single largest party with 28 seats, followed by the BJP’s 25. The BJP and PDP came together to form a coalition government, which however fell after the saffron party withdrew its support.
The PDP-BJP government formed in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014 could not last the full 6-year term as BJP withdrew its support to former Chief Minister
(PDP) in 2018. Since then, the erstwhile state has been under central rule.
“In the history of India, after independence, many union territories have been converted into states but there is only one example when statehood was taken away and a union territory was created. This has never happened before and we want to give this message that the representation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir is important, it is important for us and it is important for the country,” Gandhi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. Rahul Gandhi is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir and the restoration of the erstwhile state’s statehood appears to be central to his poll promise.
“We want statehood for you, that is in your heart. We want you to run your state the way you want to, this is the message we came to convey,” he said.The region was stripped of its statehood and special status under Article 370 in 2019.
Backing Rahul Gandhi’s comments, NC patron Farooq Abdullah said, “People have suffered much in the last 10 years. Statehood is the prime concern for us. And we want all the powers of the state. Our common program is to fight divisive forces. Our doors are open for all, let’s first win the election. My heart is happy today.”
Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge met with party workers in poll-bound Jammu and Kashmir Thursday, August 22. Gandhi, who is also the Leader of theOpposition in Lok Sabha, said that the representation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and their statehood is the most important thing in the Union Territory.
“You are not workers, you are family. As soon as we got to know that elections were going to be conducted, we first decided to come here to Jammu and Kashmir because we wanted to give a message to the people of every state that for us the representation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and their statehood is the most important thing,” Gandhi told party workers in Srinagar on Thursday, the second of his visit to the UT.
In the Lok Sabha polls 2024, the BJP bagged both the seats in the Jammu division. The NC bagged 2 of 3 seats – Srinagar and Anantnag – in the Kashmir Valley, while Baramulla went to Independent.  Hindu-majority Jammu division has 43 assembly seats, while Muslim-dominated Kashmir has 47.
In 2019, the Modi government abrogated Article 370 and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.Gandhi repeated his comments at the press conference held later in Srinagar. Earlier, Kharge, addressing the media, said that the Congress party will fight for restoring Jammu and Kashmir‘s statehood status.“ The elections have been announced because of SC directions to hold polls before September 30, 2024. But I want to tell Modi sahab and BJP that you won’t succeed in oppressing people’s voices. Congress party is with the people of Jammu and Kashmir and will fight for their expectations,” Kharge said.
In his address, Kharge mentioned that Rahul Gandhi is related to Jammu and Kashmir by blood and appealed to voters saying that their votes are needed to As Rahul Gandhi said, his relationship with J&K is not limited to likes or dislikes. He is related to J&K by blood… We hope J&K will stand with us in the upcoming elections.,” Kharge said.
(Bureau Report with inputs from Srinagar ).

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