New Delhi: The Congress and the National Conference (NC) will contest the J&K Assembly election on separate manifestos but will work out a Common Minimum Program (CMP) if the alliance is elected to power, senior leaders of the two parties said on Tuesday.
The alliance was sealed by the two parties on Monday after hectic consultations over the past few days. Elections for the 90-member assembly will be held on September 18, 25 and October 1. The counting of votes will take place on October 4. The Congress is contesting 32 seats, NC 51, Panthers Party 1 and CPI-M 1. There will be a friendly fight between the Congress and NC on five seats as no agreement could be reached on them.
The Congress will now launch an aggressive campaign in the Union Territory (UT) soon and it will be led by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge. Party insiders said schedules for rallies and roadshows of the three top leaders were being worked out.
"We will contest the polls on our pro-people manifesto which will be released soon. Though there will be several promises in our manifesto, the Congress focus will be on the restoration of full statehood, jobs for the youth and a regard for the wishes of the people," All India Congress Committee (AICC) in charge of J&K Bharat Sinh Solanki told ETV Bharat.
"Rahul Gandhi loves the people of J&K and the people love him back. He always launches an aggressive campaign in the polls,” he said.
The mention of bringing back Article 370 of the Constitution which gave special status to J&K but was removed in 2019 in the NC manifesto was not an issue for the grand old party, the senior leader said.
"The NC will contest on their own manifesto. If the alliance forms the next government, we will work out a CMP. Our stand on Article 370 is already in the public domain,” said Solanki.
According to NC Lok Sabha MP from Anantnag Mian Altaf Ahmed, the Congress-NC alliance reflected the aspirations of the local people. "We had gone to the Lok Sabha polls together as the INDIA alliance and it would have reflected badly on us if we parted ways during the assembly polls. The alliance reflects the will of the people. We are going to do well but we need to work hard," Altaf Ahmed told ETV Bharat.
"The Article 370 is an emotive and political issue for us. There are issues that the Congress and the NC would like to flag before the polls but we would sort them out later when the CMP for governance will be drafted," he said. The NC leader explained that five seats will see a friendly fight as no agreement could be reached on them with the Congress.
"Both the parties wanted to field nominees on those seats. So, we left it at that. Whichever candidate wins on those five seats, at least the seat will remain with the alliance. The alliance will defeat the BJP in the Union Territory and we will then push for restoration of full statehood in the assembly,” said Altaf Ahmed.
