Irfan Lone, Abdul Rahim Rather join Congress
Srinagar, Aug 31: A day after senior National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said that his party had to “sacrifice” several seats for the alliance, J&K Congress chief Tariq Hamid Karra stated that they were ready to contest all 90 seats but that the coalition was formed under a ‘national compulsion.’
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function at the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters, during which former Kokernag MLA Abdul Rahim Rather and activist Irfan Hafeez Lone joined the party, Karra said the Congress was ready to contest all 90 seats for the upcoming assembly polls.
“The Congress’s alliance with the National Conference was forged under a national compulsion. The Congress will become stronger in the future. We had some alliance compulsions. If those parameters of the alliance were not followed, then the Congress was ready to contest all 90 seats,” he said.
Asked for his comment about the situation in the BJP in Jammu, where many of its leaders are resigning from the party following the distribution of tickets, the Congress’ Jammu and Kashmir chief said there was a conflict of ideology within the BJP.
“That is their issue. Their conflict within is basically ideological. There are so many BJPs in one BJP. It is their ideological conflict. Within the BJP, they don’t know themselves which ideology to follow, which leader to follow,” Karra said.
On Friday, Omar Abdullah also acknowledged the difficulties faced in forming this alliance but emphasized its importance in countering the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Jammu and Kashmir.
“National Conference had to sacrifice those seats where we knew only the NC could put up a tough fight. There are some areas in Jammu, Rajouri, and Poonch where NC and Congress could effectively challenge the BJP. That is why Congress was given some seats to contest from our share,” Omar had said, who is contesting from the Ganderbal constituency.
Under the seat-sharing agreement, NC will contest 51 seats, while Congress will contest 32. Additionally, five seats will witness a “friendly contest” between the two allies. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Panthers Party will also contest one seat each.
The Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections will be held in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1, with vote counting scheduled for October 8.
