The Hindu : Cong. ready to form alliance Govt. in J&K

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 11, 2002

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National

Cong. ready to form alliance Govt. in J&K

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI OCT. 10 . Pleased to be back in the reckoning in Jammu and Kashmir politics after 27 years, despite coming second to the National Conference in the final tally, the Congress said today that it would bow to the verdict and work towards providing an alternative government in alliance with other like-minded parties.

However, with the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, away in Mathura for the greater part of the day and the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress president, Gulam Nabi Azad, expected to arrive here only tomorrow, senior leaders refused to reveal the party's mind on the dynamics of such a coalition or who would be Chief Minister. The future course of action was slated to be thrashed out after Ms. Gandhi's return at a meeting of senior leaders.

Though the Congress had not entered into a formal electoral alliance with any party, its decision to leave several seats for the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and withdraw some of its candidates at the eleventh hour in favour of that party is expected to fructify. Together, the two parties

account for 36 seats.

Add to this the four seats won by the Panthers Party whose leader, Bhim Singh, met Ms. Gandhi on Wednesday to extend support to the Congress. Also, the Congress is hopeful of wooing some of the independents though Ms. Gandhi's political secretary, Ambika Soni, refused to speculate on the plea that she had not seen the final list of elected independent candidates.

The mood in the Congress is in favour of being in governance; particularly, as Ms. Soni put it, "we went into this election to form a government, and there cannot be a vacuum''. This has been the stock response of the party right through the past couple of days and today as post-poll predictions and early trends after counting was taken up indicated a Congress comeback.

"Unlike the BJP which was pre-occupied with in-fighting, the Congress campaign was focussed and strategised. We saw this as an important election, and this is why Ms. Gandhi decided to send a senior leader like Mr. Azad to lead the party in the polls. We wanted to convey the message that the Congress was fighting the elections to provide an alternative to the National Conference. And, it was to defeat the National Conference that we opted out of the contest in those seats where we thought other like-minded parties had a better chance of winning,'' Ms. Soni said here this evening.

As for aligning with the PDP — which is in favour of a dialogue with terrorists — and independents who may have been proxy candidates for separatist groups, the Congress argument is that there should not be any hesitation in tying up with all those who fought the elections as they swore by the Constitution and affirmed their faith in the democratic process.

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