Historic Alliance: NC and Congress Partner Up, Kashmir Seats Still Unresolved

Rahul calls on Abdullahs, tells workers “won’t compromise on their respect”. But NC wants ally to not insist on some constituencies, take the bigger Jammu share

The Congress and National Conference (NC) Thursday announced an alliance for all 90 seats in Jammu and Kashmir for the coming Assembly elections. The announcement by NC president Farooq Abdullah came after Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called on the NC leadership at Farooq’s residence in Srinagar, where they held a meeting lasting over an hour.

“Our alliance is on track. We have discussed seats as well, it is final. By evening, we will sign this, and it is for all 90 seats,” Farooq said, adding that the common programme of the two parties was “to fight elections to defeat the divisive forces that exist in the country”.

The NC chief also expressed the hope that statehood would be restored soon to J&K, headed by a government that holds all the required powers.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi said the alliance would be formed “while maintaining the respect of Congress party workers”. Addressing a workers’ meeting in Srinagar alongside Kharge, Gandhi said Congress workers had “dedicated their whole lives to protecting the Congress ideology and carrying forward the party’s line of thinking. I am aware of the difficulties you have dealt with.”

He said the party leadership had told PCC president Tariq Hameed Karra that the alliance would not compromise on respect towards party leaders and workers. This is significant as the seat-sharing talks between the two parties are not expected to be easy, with a final agreement stuck over a few constituencies in the Valley.

The NC remains the stronger partner in the Valley, the Congress can claim likewise in Jammu, while both parties have their eyes on the Pir Panjal region in between.

Sources in both parties said that Congress leaders from Kashmir have sought those seats in the Valley for themselves or the party that they have previously contested from. But NC leaders are pushing back saying that the party is “far ahead” in its ground work in these constituencies.

The NC is also resisting conceding the seats where it feels the Congress hopes of winning are “unrealistic”. Sources said that the Assembly seats the Congress is seeking include five of the eight in Srinagar district. This includes Hazratbal, where the NC has shortlisted a candidate. The other seats the Congress wants which the NC is hesitant to concede are in Pulwama and Anantnag.

Some of these seats such as Dooru, Shangus and Rajpora, all in Kashmir, are among the 16 voting in the first phase, on September 18.

The NC’s argument is that it is willing to let the Congress have the upper hand in Jammu. A source said: “In Jammu district itself, out of 11 seats, we are willing to give nine… They are realistic enough to know they have a better presence in Jammu.”

NC leaders pointed out that in seats where the party is strong, even if the leadership agrees, and “no matter how many rallies the partners hold together”, “the cadre won’t transfer their vote”.

Party leaders said that they don’t want to compromise on any seat to avoid any chance of a fractured mandate. A senior NC leader: “To the extent possible, we will accommodate their demands in Kashmir and allow them their claims in Jammu.”

A senior NC leader said that despite these niggles, a chunk of the work – covering “about 75% of the seats” – is nearly done, and that both sides are up for negotiations on the others. Sources said Kharge had also suggested that in seats where the two parties can’t reach an agreement, the two “can agree to disagree and fight separately” in a friendly arrangement.

Thursday’s developments suggest that the doors for a Congress agreement with the PDP, which is also a part of the INDIA bloc, are shut. The PDP had earlier said that it was open to an alliance with the Congress, but that the latter would have to make the move.

Addressing party workers earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi said that J&K faces many of the problems that youths in the rest of the country face, such as unemployment, and that the Congress had effectively tapped into these concerns in the Lok Sabha polls. “We dealt a blow to Narendra Modi’s confidence… It was the ideology of the Congress and INDIA alliance that made this happen,” he said.

Though Gandhi went on to seek restoration of statehood to J&K at the earliest, he refrained from mentioning the abrogated Article 370 – a point the BJP underlined. It asked the Congress to clarify whether it backed ally NC’s promise to pass a resolution in the Assembly against the abrogation if voted to power.

Flanked by Kharge and senior leader K C Venugopal, Gandhi said the party would “help” the people of J&K however they could. “We understand that you are going through a very difficult period… We want to remove violence,” he said.

Kharge said: “We are here to seek the views of local leaders and workers for the elections and an alliance. Rahul ji is interested in taking everyone along.”

Kharge said that apart from statehood, the Congress’s other promises were jobs, investment, and protection for “jal, jungle, zameen” of the people of J&K. “They are trying to snatch these from you,” the Congress chief said, raising an evocative issue for Kashmir.

Before he wrapped up his two-day visit to Kashmir and left for Jammu, Gandhi met student representatives, who sought his support in ensuring the “safety” of Kashmiri students in the rest of the country. Gandhi assured them his full support and said he would raise their concerns in Parliament.

In the 2014 Assembly elections, the last state polls held in J&K, the PDP had won the highest number of seats, at 28, followed by the BJP at 25. The BJP’s vote share at 22.98% was slightly higher than PDP’s at 22.67%. After the elections, the PDP and BJP had come together to form a government, which fell in 2018. Source