Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Nov 13: For the first time since its formation, the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) attended the meeting of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an amalgam of top mainstream parties in Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting, which began at PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti’s residence in the morning, was called to finalize the candidates from Kashmir valley for all the eight phases of the upcoming District Development Council (DDC) polls, slated to be held from November 28.
The meeting began at 10:30 am at Mehbooba’s residence and after Friday prayers, the second round of the meeting was held at NC headquarters in Nawa-e-Subha here.
The PAGD has recently declared the list of 27 constituencies in which candidates from three parties including National Conference (NC), People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peoples Conference (PC) were chosen to contest the polls on their respective party symbols.
However, the Congress party for the first time attended the meeting of PAGD since its formation. Two leaders from Congress joined the meeting today after they said that the party is fully part of the alliance, which was recently formed to fight for the restoration of erstwhile State’s special status and Statehood.
G N Monga, who attended the meeting today, said that the Congress is completely supporting the PAGD in its motive, which includes the restoration of J&K special status, adding that the Congress is also contesting the elections unitedly with PAGD.
Awami National Conference (ANC) senior vice president, Muzaffar Ahmad Shah said that the alliance is finalizing the candidates from Kashmir valley for all the eight phases.
Shah further stated that the meeting will continue tomorrow as well, adding that the constituents of the alliance are finalizing the candidates for the eight-phases, except the one already decided and made public.
He said the Alliance will be holding the meeting tomorrow as well and will finalize the candidates by tomorrow afternoon. Shah also said that there is consensus among the alliance partners and all the constituents are unanimously deciding the candidates and seat sharing for the upcoming polls.
About polls, Shah said the political parties have done their job irrespective of tremendous pressure including threats and now it is the time for people to come out to vote and openly tell the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that they reject the decision taken by them on August 5, last year.
The PAGD unanimously decided to contest the upcoming polls in Jammu and Kashmir unitedly.
The maiden DDC polls in Jammu and Kashmir will be conducted in eight phases from November 28 while the counting will take place on December 22.
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