Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): Ahead of the possible Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress chief Malikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took a review of the party's performance in Jammu and Kashmir in the Lok Sabha elections and asked the party leaders to prepare for upcoming Assembly polls.
Kharge summoned 28 senior leaders from Jammu and Kashmir to New Delhi and held a meeting with them for three hours. The meeting was held at the Congress headquarters. Congress General Secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal was also present for the meeting, sources said.
Among the leaders from Jammu and Kashmir who attended the meeting included Pradesh Congress Committee president Vikar Rasool, Tariq Hameed Kara, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Tara Chand, former MLC G N Monga, working president Raman Bhalla, Lal Singh and others. The meeting was held a month after the Congress lost two seats - Udhampur and Jammu to the BJP for the third time in a row in the Lok Sabha elections, though its vote share has increased from the previous three polls.
Pradesh Congress Committee Vice President Surinder Singh Channi said that the meeting was held to discuss preparations for Assembly elections, the performance of the party in Lok Sabha elections and contesting assembly elections in alliance with the National Conference (NC).
"The leadership appreciated the increasing vote share of the party in the Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Udhampur seats. The leaders asked us to gear up and reach out to the people in our respective assembly segments to spread the party agenda," Channi told ETV Bharat. He said the leadership told them that the alliance with NC in assembly elections would be discussed at the appropriate time by the high command.
Kharge asked the leaders to reach out to the people of Jammu and Kashmir for the upcoming Assembly elections. He told them the people in Jammu and Kashmir want to get rid of the BJP rule and are looking towards Congress which had given them welfare and development during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
"They want a welfare and sensitive government to come, which will work to heal their sorrows, which will look towards the future. I would like all of us to work diligently to live up to the aspirations of the people, constantly raise the voice of the people, and live among the people," Kharge wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the meeting.
