J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) has attended a five-hour long joint meeting of National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party in Jammu to deliberate on strategy and finalisation of candidates to be fielded commonly in the District Development Council (DDC) polls.
The meeting started at 3 PM today at the residence of NC Provincial President Devender Singh Rana at Gandhi Nagar in which Congress Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Sharma and PDP’s General Secretary Surinder Choudhary among other senior leaders were present.
“It was conveyed to Dr Farooq Abdullah Sahab – Chairperson of People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) – by the Congress High Command that the Congress wants to support like-minded secular parties like National Conference to strengthen the secular fabric of J&K and for the welfare of people of J&K and Ladakh,” informed Provincial President NC, Devender Singh Rana, soon after the meeting concluded.
In continuation to the communication of Congress High Command received through J&K Congress President GA Mir, Devender Rana told media persons: “A meeting was held for continuous five hours to work out strategy i.e. how to implement this on the ground because the time is short and there are some aberrations which have to be worked out.”
He said: “We had detailed discussion with Congress Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Sharma and senior PDP leader Surinder Choudhary. We have tried to iron out certain issues. This is very preliminary because this is the first stage and the modalities are work in progress at the moment.”
The NC Provincial President said: “It’s work in progress which has just started. Many things are yet to be worked out. We have tried to come to a consensus. Basically, we have decided that we will have to fight unitedly by fielding winnable candidates in the DDC polls.” Rana further said, “We are trying to give better representation to the people.”
Congress Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said: “We have started an adjustment process with the like-minded secular parties like NC and other political parties to ensure victory for our candidates. We have discussed the suitability of the candidates. There will be broader formation in which better candidates will be fielded and we have talked to work it out.”
PDP’s Surinder Choudhary said, “This alliance is not for elections only, but it is for the solution of public issues like that of businessmen, transporters, casual labourers/daily wagers, traders.”