Mubashir Alam Wani
Srinagar, Mar 1: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Tariq Hameed Karra on Saturday said that the party’s primary agenda in the upcoming budget session of the J&K Legislative Assembly will be the restoration of statehood.
Karra, said that the Congress legislators will meet in Jammu on Sunday to devise their strategy.
Responding to a query whether NC and Congress legislators will hold a joint meeting before the session commences, Karra said, “No such meeting has been called.”
Asked about the anticipated stormy session, particularly with opposition parties like the People’s Conference and the PDP expected to raise issues like the liquor ban, Karra said, “The government has its own standing, while the opposition has its democratic rights to raise issues.”
“Our prime issue remains the restoration of statehood. The confusion surrounding governance today is a direct result of the delay in reinstating statehood, which has also impeded the framing of business rules,” Karra said.
He also highlighted that the Congress has transformed the demand for statehood into a people’s movement, beginning with Jammu.
Pertinently, the last budget session of J&K Assembly took place in 2018 during the PDP-BJP regime in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, which was bifurcated into two Union Territories in August 2019 after abrogation of Article 370.
The National Conference and the Congress contested the assembly elections last year together. Congress has six MLAs but hasn’t joined the government, while the NC got a clear mandate by bagging more than 40 seats.
