J&K DDC polls: Under fire, Congress snaps ties with Gupkar alliance

SRI NAGAR: After facing severe criticism from the BJP for being a part of the “Gupkar Gang”, the J&K Congress snapped its ties with the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) and ended the seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming District Development Council (DDC) polls.

J&K Congress vice-president Ghulam Nabi Monga confirmed this newspaper that his party has severed the seat-sharing agreement with the PAGD.

“We had not allied with the PAGD, but there was a seat-sharing agreement with the alliance,” Monga said.

He had attended meetings with PAGD leaders to shortlist the group’s joint candidates for the first-ever DDC elections for 280 seats in J&K.

However, after BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah, came down heavily on the alliance, describing it a n anti-national “Gupkar gang”, the Congress slipped into a defensive mode, saying it’s not part of the alliance led by National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.

A senior Congress leader said the party’s high command had asked its unit in J&K to snap the seat-sharing agreement with the PAGD as it might go against people’s sentiments and backfire in the forthcoming Bengal and Assam elections.

When asked whether the Congress’s decision to contest the DCC polls alone could benefit the BJP, Monga said: “We will still defeat the BJP because there is resentment against the saffron party in J&K.” 

“The ground reality is that the people of Kashmir don’t want to vote for the BJP. Its popularity graph has fallen drastically in Jammu as well and now, it is  banking on communal polarisation,” he added.

The eight-phase DDC polls will begin on November 28. The last phase will be held on December 19 and votes will be counted on December  22.