Srinagar: Ahead of the forthcoming assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, AICC chairperson Sonia Gandhi has constituted a six member committee headed by the former defense minister A.K. Antony to access state’s political landscape.
Sources privy to this development told KNS that the move is to counter the BJP wave in the Jammu region wherein the Congress lost both the seats to its rival party. The committee has also been assigned the task to analyze the situation for forging any alliance with the National Conference ahead of the polls slated by the end of this year.
The members of the committee include senior state Congress leaders Taj Mohi-ud-din, Gulam Ahmad Mir and Peerzada Sayeed from Kashmir region. Two have been included from the Jammu region namely Madan Lal Sharma and the minister in Omar Abdullah’s cabinet Sham Lal Sharma. Ringzin Jora is representing Ladakh region of the state.
Sources have told KNS that a detailed meet between the party high command and the state leaders took place at New Delhi on Sunday wherein hectic deliberations were held over the issue of entering into a pre-poll pact with its ally National Conference. A senior Congress leader while pleading anonymity told KNS that he suggested Congress party to contest the forthcoming polls all alone in the state and that Congress is capable enough to fight other parties on all the political turfs of the state.
However other insiders of the meet stated that various dimensions of the matter were taken into consideration before any formal and final announcement could be made. Reports also informed that the meet of the chief minister Omar Abdullah is also expected to be held by the late Sunday evening with the Congress high command over the issue of the pre-poll alliance.
Meanwhile, prior to the Congress leaders meeting with the Antony Committee, AICC (I) general secretary, Incharge Jammu and Kashmir, Ambika Soni, Azad and Soz had a separate meeting to discuss the party strategy for the Assembly elections and apprised AICC (I) chief Sonia Gandhi about Jammu and Kashmir Congress leaders and workers stand that the party shouldn’t go for pre-poll alliance with the NC. Ambika Soni had held detailed meetings with party cadre in Kashmir recently to elicit their view point on party debacle in Lok Sabha elections and strategy for forthcoming Assembly elections.