Srinagar: Top Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi arrived in Srinagar on Wednesday on a two-day visit ahead of the first-ever Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir after it was made a Union Territory.
Their visit comes in the midst of a hectic backchannel dialogue between the Congress and the National Conference (NC) to iron out details regarding a pre-poll alliance for the election to be held next month.
Kharge and Rahul Gandhi received a rousing reception from Congress supporters on their arrival in Srinagar. The duo met Congress leaders from J&K, including State President Tariq Hameed Karra and Ghulam Ahmad Mir, for their inputs on the “poll strategy for the upcoming Assembly election”.
Rahul Gandhi will hold a meeting with party leaders on Thursday morning. Several senior Congress leaders who had joined Ghulam Nabi Azad's Democratic Progressive Azad Party, are likely to rejoin the party.
“Mr. Khargeji and Rahul Gandhiji will be visiting Jammu and Srinagar for key meetings in preparation for the upcoming Assembly election,” Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal said.
Party sources said there were “a few sticky points” between the Congress and the NC regarding a pre-poll alliance, as negotiations between second-rung leadership were on for a few days. The sticky points might be left to the top leadership of the Congress and the Abdullahs of the NC to find a solution, they added.
Sources said Rahul Gandhi, who is likely to open direct channels of communications with the Abdullahs, will announce a final decision on the pre-poll alliance by Friday.
Sources said the Congress is demanding a significant share of seats in the Kashmir Valley, which has 47 Assembly segments. However, the NC is more keen on a pre-poll alliance in the Jammu region, which has 43 seats.
A proposal to have a friendly contest in many Kashmir seats was also discussed in the backchannel dialogue, sources said.
The NC and the Congress – both INDIA bloc partners – had entered into a pre-poll alliance during the Lok Sabha election in J&K earlier this year. The Congress fielded candidates from the two Lok Sabha seats in the Jammu region, while the NC contested from the three seats in the Kashmir Valley. The two jointly managed to get the highest vote share of 41.6%, with 21.45 lakh voters voting for them.
Of the 54 Assembly segments in the three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir, the NC-Congress combine was leading from 34 seats. Between the two parties, the NC managed 22.2% votes (11.47 lakh) and the Congress 19.3% votes (9.98 lakh).
