Srinagar, Aug 19: Congress is open to talks with like-minded parties to strike a “respectable alliance” for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls but the parameters for such a tie-up would be different from the Lok Sabha elections, party’s newly-appointed J&K chief Tariq Hameed Karra said on Monday.
In an interview with PTI, Karra also said Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party has been “outrightly rejected” by the people who have “punished” the outfit for the “idea of leaving the Congress”.
The former MP said “restoration of statehood” is of “paramount” importance for the Congress and accused the Centre of taking the “unconstitutional” step of relegating a state to a Union Territory.
Karra, who became the J&K Congress chief last Friday replacing Vikar Rasool Wani, said a call is already there for all secular parties who are opposed to the “hegemonic attitude” of the BJP to unite.
Asked if the Congress will align with parties such as the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Karra said, “The previous coalition (for parliamentary polls) had different parameters; it was at the national level and parameters are always different between parliamentary elections and assembly elections.”
“So, we will have to talk within ourselves also, to my leadership in Jammu and Kashmir. We have been given assurance by the leadership here in Delhi that there shall be a respectable alliance because the parameters fixed at that time (parliamentary polls) were different which I don’t think would be applicable this time,” he told PTI.
“We have to start discussions immediately after assuming charge and I have to have discussions with my colleagues and then only we will decide.
“We are open to talks with like-minded parties who are fighting against the hegemonic attitude of the BJP. We are open to that. We have to have a respectable alliance but the parameters are different this time,” Karra asserted.
The NC and the Congress allied in the Lok Sabha polls. However, Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP was not part of the alliance and had accused the NC of violating the spirit of the Gupkar alliance.
Karra, 69, belongs to a prominent political family from Srinagar. He had joined the Congress in 2017 after quitting the Mehbooba Multi-led party.
