'Alliance On Track': Farooq Abdullah Declares Congress And National Conference To Contest Jammu-Kashmir Polls Together

National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah announced on Thursday (22 August) that his party would contest the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) assembly elections in alliance with Congress.

The announcement comes after the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah at their residence in Srinagar earlier today.

"The meeting was held in a very cordial atmosphere. The alliance is on track," the former J&K Chief Minister said adding that all 90 seats of the Union Territory will be contested under the alliance.

On the question of Mehbooba Mufti's People's Democratic Party (PDP) being a part of this alliance, Abdullah said that for now, only Congress and NC are together, while the option for a post-poll alliance with PDP is open.

"Tarigami sahab (Communist Party of India Marxist's M Y Tarigami) is also with us. I hope that our people are with us so that we can win and do better for the people," he explained.

Abdullah reiterated the demand for restoration of statehood to J&K. "This state has seen bad days. We hope that the state gets all its autonomy and we stand with INDIA alliance in every manner regarding that," he added.

Similarly, Rahul Gandhi said that restoring statehood to J&K is a priority for the Congress party and the INDI Alliance and remarked, "This is the first time since independence that a state has become union territories."