Three-member Congress team to attend PM Modi's J&K meet

A three-member Congress team would participate in the meeting on Jammu and Kashmir convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.

The decision was taken at a meeting of senior Congress leaders chaired by party chief Sonia Gandhi, which was attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, senior leaders P Chidambaram, Karan Singh, J&K Congress chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir.

“It was decided that Congress should respond to the initiative of the Prime Minister. It would have been better though if the government had shared the agenda for the meeting,” Mir said.

Also Read | J&K's Gupkar alliance to attend Modi's all-party meeting, but won't compromise on Article 370

Besides Mir, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and former J&K deputy chief minister Tara Chand will attend the meeting.

“The party believes that dialogue is the only way to resolve any problem. No agenda for the meeting has been mentioned in the invitation, so it would not be correct to speculate on it,” Mir said.

He said the Congress delegation participating in the meeting was “fully equipped” to take part in the debate and discussion at Thursday’s deliberations with the Prime Minister.

Congress had demanded restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir holding of elections to allow people to elect their representatives instead of a rule by Delhi.