Rahul Gandhi, Ram Madhav in J&K to explore poll tie-ups

Srinagar, August 21

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As alliance talks for the Assembly elections gain momentum in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress and the BJP have started exploring options for possible poll pacts in the UT.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and party MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi arrived in Srinagar on Wednesday. Rahul and other Congress leaders visited Srinagar’s famous Ahdoos restaurant in the evening.

The BJP too rushed its top leader Ram Madhav to Srinagar on Wednesday, a day after the party made him the Jammu and Kashmir incharge.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Ahmad Mir said Rahul and Kharge were scheduled to interact with party leaders and workers in Kashmir on Thursday morning and take a feedback on the elections. Thereafter, they would travel to Jammu.

Sources said the two leaders might even meet the top National Conference leadership to discuss the possibility of a poll alliance.

The sources said senior Congress and National Conference leaders of Jammu and Kashmir had already held discussions on a tie-up. The Congress has demanded seats in Kashmir also if an alliance is to be formed.

Jammu and KashmirCongress president Tariq Hameed Karra said this week that the National Conference had “already approached the party’s central leadership for an alliance”.

The BJP, on the other hand, has also started its ground work to explore its poll options in Kashmir. Ram Madhav kept his Valley visit away from media glare, with the local BJP leadership too maintaining a silence about it. BJP sources said that the central leader arrived in the Valley in connection with the elections and to explore the options of take on board “like-minded” people ahead of the elections. Madhav was ousted as BJP general secretary in September 2020 and has been in the cold since then. On Tuesday, the BJP surprisingly announced him as incharge of Jammu and Kashmir.

While the BJP — over the years — has spread its wings in Kashmir, electorally, it is struggling and even some of the valley-based political parties, which the BJP supported behind the curtains, too failed to perform.

Sources said Madhav, an old hand, has been given the responsibility again because of his old connections in the Valley. In the past, Madhav maintained contact with several civil society members as well.

Sources said as Madhav landed in Srinagar, he began reaching out to the people.

“He is an old hand and has a lot of friends in political and social circles in the Valley,” said sources. “He will explore options for political pacts and take like-minded people on board.”

Madhav, along with his “close friend” and former Peoples Democratic Party leader Haseeb Drabu, had finalised the modalities of the PDP-BJP coalition in 2015. They both wrote the common minimum programme for the PDP-BJP government after extensive talks. But the PDP-BJP alliance didn’t last long and ended in 2018.