Srinagar: The arrival of the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Mallikarjun Kharge in Srinagar has fuelled speculations about the party’s roadmap for Jammu and Kashmir ahead of the crucial assembly election.
The high-level visit takes on particular significance in the context of ongoing talks for a seat-sharing agreement between senior Congress and National Conference (NC) leaders, and overtures made by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which has been seeking a “broader alliance” in Jammu and Kashmir against the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).
The NC and the PDP are part of the opposition INDIA bloc which stunned the saffron party in the recently concluded Lok Sabha (LS) elections. However, after a bitter public spat, the two parties went separate ways in J&K in LS polls with the NC bagging two seats while the Congress and the PDP couldn’t open their accounts.
Political observers believe that a pre-poll alliance between the three parties is likely to deal a major setback to the saffron party’s plans of returning to power in Jammu and Kashmir after it walked out of the coalition with the PDP in 2018. The three parties are also part of the fledgling Gupkar alliance which was formed ahead of the reading down of Article 370 in 2019.
Bitterness between NC, PDP makes forging alliance an uphill task
However, forging such an alliance will also be a difficult task, given the bitterness between the NC and the PDP, who publicly took potshots at each other during campaigns for Panchayat, municipal and other elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the past, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah, who vehemently opposes his party’s alliance with the PDP, has argued that support for a party in a constituency does not necessarily translate into votes for its alliance partner in the election.
“The BJP has aligned the political chessboard to its advantage by appointing Ram Madhav as its point-man for the assembly election in J&K. The party is expected to do well in Jammu and if the INDIA bloc doesn’t play its cards well, the saffron party will have the last laugh. Rahul Gandhi has an important role to play if he wants to ensure that the BJP stays out of J&K,” said a Srinagar-based political analyst.
The PDP, which wants to ally itself with the Congress, suffered a series of setbacks after Jammu and Kashmir was demoted and split into two territories. Several senior PDP leaders have joined other parties and one has launched his own political formation, prompting Omar to ridicule the party’s predicament.
However, the PDP put up a resolute fight in the Lok Sabha election by bagging second position in two out of three constituencies in Kashmir. The party president Mehbooba Mufti, who was defeated by the NC’s Mian Altaf Larvi, polled 23.29 percent (240042) votes in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency while Waheed Parra, the party’s youth president who lost to the NC’s Aga Ruhullah, bagged 24.95 (168450) percent votes in Srinagar constituency.
“The regional parties have no ground to fight against each other, given we all are at the bottom of the dark pit,” senior PDP leader and Mehbooba’s close aide, Naeem Akhtar, told The Hindu in an interview on the eve of Gandhi’s visit to J&K, describing Gandhi as an “impactful voice” who has created “a new atmosphere in the country.”
The Congress scion and other party leaders, which also include member of parliament K C Venugopal, Kaushal Vidyarthee, Basil Raj Kunnel and Pranav Jha, arrived in Srinagar on Wednesday, August 22, to kickstart the poll campaign ahead of the assembly election which is set to take place next month.
The voting in Jammu and Kashmir will take place in three phases on September 18, September 25, and October 1 and the results are scheduled to be declared on October 4.
According to reports, the Congress leaders are expected to hold a series of meetings with the leaders and workers in the twin capitals of Jammu and Kashmir to discuss the poll strategy and also possibly shortlist the candidates for the upcoming election.
Rahul to attend J&K PCC meeting
Reports said Gandhi will attend a high-level meeting of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) leaders and workers on Thursday which will be followed by a media interaction at a high-end hotel in Srinagar where the Congress scion is expected to spell out his party’s agenda for J&K.
The Congress leaders are later scheduled to fly to Jammu where they will hold similar meetings with the party’s Jammu leaders and workers.
Although there was no official word on whether the Congress leadership will meet with the NC or the PDP leaders in Srinagar, such a possibility can’t be ruled out given the rising political temperature in Jammu and Kashmir.
“We will consult local leaders (of Congress) on issues such as alliances. Who should we have an alliance with, what kind of equation should we have – there will be a discussion on all this,” Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who heads the screening panel for J&K, said on Monday.
Earlier, after checking into The Lalit hotel on the upscale Gupkar Road in Srinagar on Wednesday, the Congress leaders drove down for dinner to Hotel Ahdoos, one of the most frequented restaurants in Lal Chowk which is known for serving authentic Kashmiri Wazwan.
A video, which was posted by the Congress on its social media handles, showed Gandhi also chatting up with kids at an ice-cream parlour in Lal Chowk, Kashmir’s largest marketplace in Srinagar.
