Congress rushes Salman Khurshid, Venugopal to Srinagar for talks with NC
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 26
With the deadline for nominations for the first phase of elections in Jammu and Kashmir looming (the last day is Tuesday), the Congress on Monday rushed two veterans to finalise the seat-sharing plan with the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference in Srinagar.
The two sides continue to be engaged in hectic negotiations with talks learnt to be stuck on three seats of the Valley, to which both the Congress and the NC have laid claim.
Congress point person for seat-sharing talks with NC and former Union minister Salman Khurshid and AICC general secretary organisation KC Venugopal have landed in Srinagar and will soon meet the Abdullahs of the NC to finalise the deal.
"This is a doable thing. The only problem is our aspirations on some seats in the Valley are clashing with NC's reluctance. But we do believe this can be done. We have a fair share of aspirations in the Valley where we believe our leader Rahul Gandhi has a lot of support among the youth after the first leg of his Bharat Jodo Yatra concluded in Srinagar. After we have accommodated the NC in Jammu, we are sure we can talk about the remaining seats," Khurshid told this correspondent over phone from Srinagar.
He said once the first phase seats are resolved, the rest will follow.
"The first phase candidate lists will reflect the Congress-NC understanding once we conclude our talks," Khurshid said, adding that the agreement was likely to be fleshed out today.
Tomorrow is the last date of filing of nominations for the first phase election in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18.
Khurshid said the two sides had amicably resolved the Jammu region segments and some concerns around few Valley segments remained to be talked out.
He said the Congress was hopeful of a deal soon "unless some agendas stand in the way."
The BJP today announced the first list of 44 candidates for the first three phases in J&K.
