We’re ready for Assembly election: J&K Congress

The state unit of Congress on Tuesday said the party was ready for Assembly elections in J&K, day after Bhartiay Janta Party (BJP) said it wanted early elections in the state.

“We are ready for elections and won’t shy away from givingtough fight to our opponents,” party’s state President G A Mir said.

   

Taking a dig at National Conference and Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP), the two parties which boycotted Panchayat and Municipal pollsearlier this year Mir said these parties were now demanding Assembly electionsfor their “own interests”.

The senior Congress leader said from June last year hisparty has been demanding early conduct of Assembly elections in the state.

Presently under the President’s rule, Jammu and Kashmir iswithout elected government from June last year when BJP pulled out of thecoalition with PDP to bring down the Mehbooba Mufti-led government.

“There is no alternative to an elected government. Theminiseries of people can be solved only by a popular government,” he claimed.

Mir’s statement came a day after Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) National General Secretary and in-charge J&K, Ram Madhav said hisparty was ready for Assembly elections in the State.

To a question about some leaders leaving the party, Mirtried to play down the issue. “This is a routine thing and happens in everyparty. Those who are leaving the Congress and joining other parties hadbasically come from other parties,” he said. “Grassroots members and activistsare not leaving the party.”

On Monday, Congress stalwart and former Deputy CommissionerIqbal Malik, along with some party members and Sarpanchs quit Congress andjoined BJP at party headquarters in presence of Ram Madhav.

After their joining Madhav said party was hopeful to get alandslide victory in Assembly elections in the state.

Earlier on June 15 another Congress member Riyaz Ahmad fromnorth Kashmir’s Pattan joined Peoples Conference.

A source in Congress said that internal tiffs were going onwithin the party in J&K after the party’s drubbing in the state in LokSabha polls.

The source said two meetings to analyse the reasons behinddefeat went inconclusive.

In fact, an important meeting of senior party leaders fromNew Delhi, Ambika Soni and Ghulam Nabi Azad with states leaders was postponedat last minute.

According to the source, the state leaders want a change inleadership while a faction has also threatened to divide state Congress.

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