Rahul, Kharge to visit J&K today

Srinagar, August 20

Senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge will be on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir from tomorrow ahead of the Assembly elections to be held next month, party officials said.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Ahmad Mir said Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge would be on a two-day visit to the UT.

The leaders would reach Jammu tomorrow morning and interact with party workers, Mir said. In the evening, the leaders would reach Srinagar and stay overnight in the Valley.

“They will interact with party workers in Kashmir as well. The aim of the visit is to strengthen the party cadre ahead of the elections,” he said.

The visit also comes in wake of the pre-poll alliance with the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

J&K Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra said on Monday that the NC had “already approached the party’s central leadership for an alliance”. The party was open to alliance with “all like-minded parties”, who had taken their flag up against the “dictatorial BJP to keep them out of power”.

Sources told The Tribune on Tuesday that the leaders might meet the National Conference leadership regarding the poll alliance.

Party insiders say Karra, who is a seasoned politician, can keep the party workers together in the crucial elections. The party leadership, sources say, believes that with hard work and senior leaders appointed at the helm of affairs in the UT, there are bright chances of doing well in the Assembly elections, especially in Jammu region.

Karra, a founding member of the PDP in 1999 after he quit the Congress, left the Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2016. He joined the Congress in 2017.

In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, the NC and the PDP were part of the Congress-led INDIA bloc. However, they did not contest jointly in the Valley. While the NC and the Congress contested jointly, the PDP contested on three seats in Kashmir.

Open to alliance with like-minded parties

J&K Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra said on Monday that the NC had “already approached the party’s central leadership for an alliance”. The party was open to alliance with “all like-minded parties”, who had taken their flag up against the “dictatorial BJP to keep them out of power”.