Congress Confident of Forming Government in Jammu & Kashmir Amid Polls

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On the eve of the polling of the third and last phase of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress exuded confidence that the alliance would get a comfortable majority and form its government without the support of any other party.

"The National Conference-Congress alliance is going to form its government in Jammu and Kashmir because people have decided to give a clear mandate to this alliance for a stable regime", Member of Parliament and General Secretary in-charge of Congress Communications wing Jairam Ramesh said.

The Congress leader claimed that after the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the party has expanded its support base in both the Jammu and Kashmir regions.

"People are fed up with the false promises of BJP so they want to establish a stable and popular government", he said, adding, "Even in the Jammu region people are asking what they have achieved during the last five years". He was referring to the Jammu region, which is considered a stronghold of BJP.

Elections for the third and final phase of the three-phased Assembly poll will be held on Tuesday. 

Congress committed to restoring statehood

Jairam Ramesh said that the restoration of full-fledged statehood is the main demand of Congress. He said that Congress fought elections in Jammu and Kashmir on statehood plank.

Ramesh expressed surprise that it was the first time in the history of Independence India that a full-fledged state was downgraded into a Union Territory. "Earlier Union Territories were upgraded into full-fledged states but the BJP government downgraded a state into UT", he said and added that on August 5, 2019, the statehood was snatched from the people of Jammu and Kashmir without any reason.

He argued that by downgrading J&K into a UT, the BJP-led government has betrayed and cheated people of the region.

PDP is constitutent of INDIA alliance

On the question of a possible grand alliance with PDP, after the elections to stop the BJP, Jairam Ramesh claimed that the NC-Congress alliance will get a clear majority.

"Let us see what happens. The PDP is a part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) alliance but our alliance for elections in Jammu and Kashmir is only with the National Conference. Let us see what will happen post-polls", he said while dropping a hint that the Congress would not hesitate to rope in PDP in case the alliance falls short of some seats.

Important to mention here that despite being a constituent of the INDIA alliance, both Congress and National Conference ignored PDP in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

In Kashmir Valley, the PDP is fighting against candidates of the NC-Congress alliance on most of the seats.

During her campaign in the Assembly elections, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has also avoided direct attacks on Congress. She focused her attacks only on the National Conference.

BJP daydreaming about forming government in J&K

Jairam Ramesh said despite its deceitful tactics, the BJP is daydreaming of forming its government in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the BJP is not in a position to form government in J&K.

The Congress leader pointed out that BJP's game plan to stop the NC-Congress alliance from forming a government through smaller parties and proxy Independents would not be achieved.