Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR/JAMMU, Dec 8: Former Union Minister and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Prof Saifuddin Soz today said that AICC president Sonia Gandhi will take decision on the pre-poll alliance with the National Conference in the 2014 Assembly elections while the coalition is working out consensus on the 73rd amendment before the conduct of Block Development Council elections.
While responding to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s recent statement about the pre-poll alliance with the Congress on the sidelines of the thanks giving functions at the PCC headquarters in Jammu and Srinagar today, Prof Soz said, “I am an ordinary soldier of the Congress Party and can not say anything on the policy decisions of the party. It is they, who will decide whether to enter into any pre-poll alliance with the National Conference or not.”
Prof Soz said both the parties (NC-Cong) gained a lot by entering into a pre-poll arrangement for the elections to the four seats of the Legislative Council meant for the Panchayat representatives. He said it was the partnership between the two parties that helped them to win all the four seats, two each in Kashmir and Jammu regions.
“Chief Minister has already given his nod to pre-poll alliance with Congress for the 2014 Assembly elections. Omar is very much authorized to speak his heart out on this issue and I can not do so since the Congress High Command is the final authority to take a final decision on it. The High Command will take a decision in this regard at the appropriate time after discussing the issue threadbare with the senior party leaders at the union capital,” he added.
Talking to a group of media-persons after similar function held at Jammu, the PCC chief said that Congress will play an important role in the coming days. He reiterated the resolve of the Party to focus on the 73rd and 74th amendments and said that coalition is already working on the consensus for the same. He said that after making necessary amendments, the coalition will go for BDC polls shortly and the party was also committed for the early conduct of Local Bodies polls before making necessary amendments.
While responding to a question on the continuation of alliance with the National Conference, Prof Soz said he was nobody to comment. It will continue till the Party High Commands wishes so. He however, maintained that Congress will certainly play an important role in the State politics in the coming days. While responding to the issue of according powers to Panchayats, Prof Soz said that Coordination Committee of NC and Congress would meet soon and discuss the issue of the empowerment of Panchayats. Being Chairman of the Coordination Committee it was his duty to put forward the long pending demands of the Panchayat members, he added.
Prof Soz further disclosed that mega Panchayat Conferences will be held at Srinagar and Jammu later this month and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Panchayati Raj Minister V Kishore Chandra S Deo and incharge party affairs in J&K and AICC general secretary Mohan Parkash would be invited to participate in the conventions.
Earlier, Prof Soz addressed a large gathering of the party functionaries, Sarpanchs, Panchs at the Congress headquarters at Srinagar and extended gratitude to the Panchayat members for ensuring victory of Party candidate Ghulam Nabi Monga from K-2 seat in the Legislative Council polls. He assured that a decision on the honorarium of the Panchayat members and insurance cover will be taken soon after discussing with the coalition partner. On this occasion Prof Soz and other party functionaries felicitated Mr Monga. Prominent among others present included Mohd Muzaffar Parray, Abdul Majid Padder, Bashir Ahmed Magrey, Mohd Anwar Bhat, Ghulam Nabi Mir Lasjan and Usman Majid.
In Jammu, a function was held at PCC headquarters, in which the elected party candidate Sham Lal Bhagat to Legislative Council was felicitated by PCC president and others. Prof Soz congratulated the party workers and party high command for the success in these elections and said that soon Panchayat Conferences will be held in both capital cities. Newly elected MLC also addressed the gathering of Sarpanchs and Panchs besides party men for ensuring his victory.
Minister for Revenue Raman Bhalla, Minister for Health Sham Lal, MoS Shabir Khan, Ex-MP Dharma Pal Sharma, former ministers Mula Ram, Mohd Sharief Niaz, Jugal Kishore, Khem Lata Wakhloo, Manjit Singh and Abdul Majid Wani, senior leaders Gurmukh Singh, Th Hari Singh, Om Chopra, Indu Pawar MLA, Swarn Lata, Ch Bashir Naz, Kuldip Verma, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pranav Shagotra, Ashwani Puri, Manmohan Singh and others.
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