Suspense ends, NC-Congress seat-sharing arrangement finalised

Srinagar,  Aug 26: After days of suspense and uncertainty, the top leadership of the National Conference (NC) and Congress this evening finally finalised the seat-sharing arrangement under their pre-assembly poll alliance.

According to the arrangement, the National Conference will contest 51 seats, Congress 32  seats and there will be a “friendly contest” between the candidates of the two parties on five seats. One seat has been left for CPI (M) and one for Panthers Party.

The announcement regarding the finalisation of the sharing arrangement was announced by NC President Dr Farooq Abdullah, AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal, and J&K PCC Chief Tariq Hamid Qarra at a press conference here this evening.

Sources said the constituencies which will witness the friendly contest are Sopore, Banihal, Bhaderwah, Doda and Nagrota.

Earlier, this morning senior central Congress leaders Salman Khurish, K C Venugopal and Pawan Khera flew from New Delhi to Srinagar to sort out the differences on the seat sharing with top leadership of NC including Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah. Accompanied by Karra and other JKPCC leaders they drove to NC President’s residence at Gupkar Road. Hectic parleys were held to iron out the differences and reach an agreement. Finally, this evening a press conference was called during which the announcement regarding the completion of the seat sharing was made.

Dr Farooq described the completion of the seat-sharing arrangement as a matter of joy. “This alliance has been made to defeat the forces, who want to divide the people and the country. We held the negotiations in a cordial manner and finalised the arrangement. Congress and NC will contest assembly polls together,” he said.

K C Venugopal said the alliance has been formed to protect the soul of Jammu and Kashmir. “On one side BJP is trying to destroy the soul of Jammu and Kashmir and on the other side the INDIA bloc’s objective is to save the soul of J&K. That is why NC and Congress came together to form an alliance and form the government after assembly polls.

Our government will be friendly to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. We held discussions in a cordial atmosphere and framed the formula. We will fight the elections together and win elections and form the government,”he said.

Asked about BJP criticising Congress for joining hands with NC, which favours autonomy and restoration of Article 370, Venugopal said, “BJP has no moral right to accuse us. It was the BJP which was part of the government with NC (at the central level) and PDP (at the state level) in past. Both NC and PDP are the same parties which they were while in government with the BJP.

Their policies, objectives and manifestos have not changed. If  their policies and objective were alright for the BJP at that time, why is the party criticising us for forming an alliance with NC right now? Secondly, every political party has its policy, manifesto and objective. So has the Congress.”

The senior Congress leader said that the NC-Congress alliance will win the polls and then form a common minimum programme to run the government.

Tariq Hamid Karra stated that the spirit of the alliance is to fight divisive forces and protect the soul of Jammu and Kashmir. “We stitched the alliance in a cordial manner and by understanding the sensitivities of each other. There were some contentious constituencies, which were reviewed again. Finally, we reached an agreement under which NC will contest  51 seats and Congress 32. We narrowed done the contentious seats and finally agreed to have a friendly contest on five seats.

One seat has been left for CPI(M) and one for Panthers Party. Since tomorrow is the last day for filing the nominations, we will be announcing our candidates from right now in a phased manner,” he said.

It may be recalled here the announcement regarding the formation of the NC-Congress pre-poll alliance was made by Dr Farooq Abdullah on August 22 after a meeting with senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence. He had said that the seat-sharing arrangement will be finalised the same evening. However, it did not happen due to the hard stance taken by NC leaders and local leaders of Congress on some seats. Because of the differences the senior Congress leaders had to fly here today and finalise the agreement with top NC leadership.