Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, June 24: Congress today claimed that it will emerge as a single largest party in the State in the forthcoming Assembly elections slated for the year end and will form a Congress Government in the State.
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and In-charge of Jammu and Kashmir of the party, Ambika Soni, told a news Conference here: “We are going to fight the elections to be not only the single largest party but to give a Government of Congress party as much as possible.”
Keeping options for alliance with regional parties of the State open, Soni said the Congress party gears up to fight the election to the maximum advantage of the party. “How many seats we will contest depends on what course of action our leadership will decide,” she added.
AICC general secretary said that she held discussions with Congress leaders including Ministers, MLAs, MLCs, party vice presidents and district presidents to get their views on the strategy that the party needs to adopt for the Assembly elections. “The local leadership has very frankly expressed its views on this. I will put these before the Congress president”, she added.
Soni said she is returning to New Delhi along with former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and State Congress president Saif-ud-Din Soz would join them later. She said that they will prepare a detailed report based on the interactions they had and submit it to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi for a final decision. “We will give our joint report to the Congress president,” she said.
Asked if the Congress-National Conference Coalition Government will last the full term, the Congress leader said: “We always hope that an elected Government completes its full term because the mandate of the people is for a fixed term. Congress has always held that the Government which is elected to office should fulfill the manifesto that they gave for getting elected. This is our general commitment.”
“We still have so many months to go for Assembly elections. The Coalition Government has done work and we expect will do more till elections. The final decision will be conveyed to you by our leadership”, Soni said.
The AICC general secretary said they discussed the functioning of the State Government. “The interaction has been as detailed as possible. We discussed what we have achieved during the last five-and-a-half years and what else needs to be done”, she said.
“I must say the party is extremely disappointed that despite our efforts, we were not successful in the three seats that we contested. We have learnt lessons and we don’t want to be caught napping against any future communal polarisation which we feel is harmful to the interests of the people of the State,” Soni said.
The Congress leader said the party discussed how to rectify the problems those led to the defeat of its two senior leaders in Jammu region.
She said the Congress fully supports a massive employment package for youth of the State and this would be part of the Congress election manifesto. She, however, said there was no point in making future promises without fulfilling those already made.
The Congress leader said the party would strive to address the issues related to Pakistani refugees living in Jammu, the people from border areas and regularisation of the contractual employees in the State Government in the next few months. “These are burning issues which need to be addressed,” she added.
Azad told the press conference that the State Government should implement the Food Security and Land Acquisition laws passed by the Parliament last year as it would immensely benefit the State. “Land holding in Jammu and Kashmir is very little as most of the State is hilly. For them it is difficult to sustain. May be the monsoon this year might not be good. When people across the country are benefitting by getting grains at cheap prices, Jammu and Kashmir should not be deprived of it,” he said.
The leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the Planning Commission of India should not be scrapped as the plan body has its own advantages. “I don’t think anybody can think of scrapping the planning commission. It has its own advantages,” he added.
While reply to a question about media reports about scrapping of the Planning Commission, Azad said: “It is just a newspaper report. So many things are coming and I don’t think all the things mentioned in most of the newspaper reports are true.”
It may be mentioned here that a report prepared by the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO), headed by Ajay Chhibber, has recommended that the Planning Commission be scrapped and replaced with the Reform and Solutions Commission.
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