To field its candidates from 3 Lok Sabha constituencies including Ladakh
Srinagar: The Congress high command has decided to field its candidates from only three out of six parliamentary constituencies—Udhampur, Jammu and Ladakh, while as rest of the three Lok Sabha seats in valley have been apportioned to National Conference.
Well placed sources revealed to KNS, that a high level meeting in Delhi chaired by AICC president Sonia Gandhi reached to a seat sharing agreement with its coalition partner in the state wherein the Congress has decided to contest from only three seats and has dropped its claim on one of the three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir valley. Earlier the Pradesh Congress Committee was adamant on contesting from one of the three Lok Sabha seats of the valley besides retaining the three seats of Jammu including Ladakh.
Prof Saif-u-Din Soz, president Pradesh Congress Committee confirmed to KNS on phone from Delhi that the Congress high command has accepted a seat sharing agreement with the National Conference on equal terms. “Our High Command has agreed to this in a high level meeting that was chaired by Madam Sonia Ji. We will announce our candidates for the three Lok Sabha seats including Ladakh very soon,” Prof Soz told KNS from Delhi.
Meanwhile, the Congress has almost decided to nominate Madan Lal Sharma from Jammu and Choudhry Lal Singh from Udhampur.
Pertinently, National Conference has already announced its candidates for the three parliamentary constituencies of Kashmir valley—Dr Farooq Abdulla from Srinagar, Mehbooba Beig from Anantnag and Sahreef-u-Din Shariq from Baramulla. Presently, these three party leaders represent these constituencies in parliament. (KNS)