Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): Congress president Malikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday held an hour-long meeting with National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and vice president Omar Abdullah at their residence in Srinagar where they sealed the deal for the pre-poll alliance for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly election.
The Congress leaders dropped at the residence of Abdullahs after meeting their party leaders and workers in Srinagar where Rahul took them into confidence for the alliance as per sources.
Immediately after the conclusion of the address with workers and a press briefing where Kharge said that they will make INDIA alliance stronger in Jammu and Kashmir and restore the statehood, Rahul and Kharge drove to the residence of Abdullahs at fair-view Gupkar.
The arrival of the top Congress leadership itself shows that the pre-poll alliance has been sealed as the seat arrangements between the two parties was worked out in the last week by their respective committees.
Talking to reporters after meeting the Congress leaders, NC President Farooq Abdullah confirmed that the pre-poll alliance between the NC and the Congress had been sealed on all 90 seats.
Significantly, the NC Chief omitted the PDP while claiming that CPI(M) State Secretary Yusuf Tarigami was with the INDIA bloc. The NC chief said that that bloc will release the first list of candidates in the evening.
"People are with us. We want to get rid of divisive elements through the elections," Abdullah said in an apparent reference to the BJP.
Sources said that the announcement will be made within a few days as the nomination filing for the 24 seats seats which are slated for polls in the first phase on September 18 is ending on August 27.
Earlier in the day, Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi along with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge attended a workers meet in Srinagar to kickstart the party's preparations for the upcoming assembly polls.
