J-K polls: Soni non-committal on future of Cong-NC alliance

Congress today gave no indication about the future of its alliance with National Conference(NC) but said it would contest the forthcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections with the aim of emerging as the single- largest party in the state.

In the backdrop of persistent report that the Congress and the NC may separately fight the Assembly elections likely to be held at the end of this year, the party's leadership did a stock-taking over two days after which AICC general secretary Ambika Soni said, "We are going to fight the elections to be not only the single largest party in the state but to give a government of Congress party."

Among those who participated were Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, JKPCC president Saifuddin Soz, Congress leaders including Ministers, MLAs, MLCs, party vice presidents and district presidents who discussed the strategy that the party needs to adopt in the assembly polls.

Soni said she along with Azad and Soz will submit a detailed report about the feedback they have got from the state to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, amid indications that the Congress and the NC may not jointly fight the Assembly polls.

They had contested the recent Lok Sabha polls but drew a blank in all the six seats in the state.

Asked if the Congress-NC coalition government will last its full term, Soni said, "We always hope that an elected government completes its full term because the mandate of the people is for a fixed term.

"Congress has always held that the government which is elected to office should fulfil the manifesto that they gave for getting elected. This is our general commitment," she said.

"How many seats we will contest depends on what course of action our leadership (Congress President) will decide," she said in response to a question from reporters.
Soni said even though the party is extremely disappointed at losing all the three Lok Sabha seats it contested in the state, "We have learnt lessons".

"We know about the polarisation process during the election campaign ... we don't want to be caught napping against any future attempts at polarisation. The party is united to counter any such attempt which we feel is harmful to the interest of the state," she said.

Azad said the state government should implement the Food Security and Land Acquisition laws passed by Parliament last year as it would immensely benefit the state.