Congress-NC rift remains unbridged!: NC decided on RS, Nagrota polls unilaterally: Karra

Jammu, Nov 8: Finally, the skeletons are tumbling out of the cupboard of Congress-National Conference, though very subtly!

The fissures, clearly emerged after National Conference’s recent Rajya Sabha (RS) poll snub to its pre-poll alliance partner Congress, have only widened and remained far away from being bridged, in the wake of developments unfolded thereafter.

It’s just that both are “necessary evils” for each other to take on the common adversary (read BJP) and that is preventing them from crossing the periphery of subtlety while airing ‘grouse’ (against each other).

Yet it permeates as and when it finds an apt occasion.

Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Tariq Hameed Karra Saturday reiterated that NC took decisions, both in case of RS biennial elections for J&K and by-poll to Nagrota assembly segment, unilaterally, without keeping his party (Congress) in the loop.

But the Congress took a courageous stand on both the occasions by refusing its (NC’s) offers, Karra asserted.

He stated the Congress was only supporting the NC government and was not part of it, hence not accountable for the promises it (NC) made in its manifesto, including the one related to smart meters.

Karra was responding to media queries after flagging off the vehicle carrying signatures collected against “Vote Chori” from Jammu and Kashmir to the AICC New Delhi, as a part of its (Congress’) countrywide campaign, led by the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi.

These signatures collected would be presented to the President of India by the AICC.

Responding to a media query about the NC’s accusation that the Congress did not show courage to field its candidate for Nagrota by-election even after taking four days to decide about it and thus its late-night decision on the eve of last day of filing nomination forced it (NC) to nominate its candidate in haste, JKPCC president in a subtle way conveyed that the alliance partner had no moral authority to make such allegations.

“Without -or say avoiding- any kind of controversy or misunderstanding, I would like to say that the National Conference, on both the occasions, took a call unilaterally – first when it announced (its three nominees) for Rajya Sabha election and the second time, when it made announcement for Nagrota by-election. They never consulted us. They never asked whether we were ready or not ready,” he pointed out.

Notably, in case of biennial RS elections to four vacant seats from J&K, the NC had fielded its three nominees and announced to leave the fourth seat for Congress, which later refused to contest against the unsafe (fourth) seat.

On account of Nagrota assembly by-election, the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had announced that the Congress could field its candidate, if it was having a good nominee and NC would support it.

“They (NC) unilaterally announced that they were leaving the seat for the Congress. At least they should have asked us whether we’re ready or not. The matter of courage could have come later. In fact, it also takes a lot of courage to refuse and say ‘No’. What they (NC) did during the Rajya Sabha election, probably there also, we (Congress) showed courage; took a stand and refused to contest. Our stand (to refuse to contest on the fourth RS seat) was vindicated because what we were insisting was that we should be given the third safe seat – they (NC) plainly refused that,” JKPCC president stated.

Karra shared that NC gave Congress assurance that it (NC) would ensure its (Congress’) victory on that (fourth) seat through independents.

“But we said – No. it is your Chief Minister; it is your government. You have a direct rapport with those independents in the Secretariat. We had demanded that the MLAs allotted to vote for Congress should be from the National Conference and not from the independents. Reason being that the National Conference has a chief whip (who would have issued a whip to its MLAs) but the independents don’t have a whip. So how NC, which could not save its own seat, could have made us victorious? That (our stand) has been proved,” Karra stated.

But NC was saying that the situation would have been different had the Congress contested as it (Congress) enjoyed better ties with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in response to this question, JKPCC president said, “We had made calculations. We did this exercise while sitting along with the NC representative but the numbers were certainly not favouring us.”

When Karra’s comment was elicited about the Congress’ poll promise that it would remove smart meters if it (the Congress-NC alliance) came to power, his response was, “There is no doubt about it. It is right that we are supporting the (NC) government. But we are not part of the government. We have not taken any cabinet-berth in the government.”

Further elaborating on this point, he said that the Congress and NC, although in (pre-poll) alliance, had fought elections on their separate agendas and manifestoes.

“Our manifesto never talks about such issues. Hence this question can be answered by only those who had promised it in their manifestos,” he asserted.

With regard to the flagging off signatures collected against “Vote-Chori”, Karra said, “It is a significant movement today for Indian democracy as all the signatures collected during “Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod” campaign and against the culture of “Vote-Chori” (vote-theft) are being dispatched to the Congress high command.”

“I would call it a historic day; a turning point for the retrieval of democracy, which has been in danger since 2014. Innovative ways and means of (vote) theft are coming to the fore. Even the country is accepting that the Government of India or more appropriately those, who are at the helm of affairs at the Centre, came to power through undemocratic means of vote theft,” he alleged.

“As regards our today’s event, it is an issue that pertains to every citizen of India, who is a voter. This signature campaign was aimed at the protection of democratic rights of 140 Cr citizens of the country,” JKPCC president said.

When asked about a similar (signature) campaign announced by the alliance partner, Karra stated that the National Conference (NC) had announced a signature campaign for statehood restoration.

“On account of that (statehood restoration) campaign, Congress is already way ahead of NC. NC had announced that it would launch a signature campaign in all 90 assembly constituencies of J&K in support of demand for statehood restoration. As far my knowledge is concerned – it (NC signature campaign for statehood) did not kickstart. It never started.”

Earlier, while addressing the gathering, Karra referred to, what he said, “numerous illegalities exposed by Rahul Gandhi in the conduct of elections.” He also cautioned the party workers against, what he alleged, “attempts to manipulate the voter lists.” He appreciated them for collecting over 2 lakh signatures despite rain and flood-situation during the campaign period.

Karra lauded the “bold leadership of Rahul Gandhi for fighting a war against attempts to hijack the democracy and democratic institutions.”