J&K polls: Congress forged alliance with NC due to its 'lust for power', says Uttarakhand CM Dhami

Dehradun: The Congress forged an alliance with the National Conference for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir due to its "lust for power", Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday.

Dhami also posed 10 questions to the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi and asked them to explain why the party allied with the National Conference and the Abdullah family.

He alleged that the Abdullahs "pushed back" Jammu and Kashmir for three decades and "ruined" it.

Describing the National Conference as a party that fomented separatism and terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Dhami said, "(Rahul) Gandhi owes an explanation to the nation on whether, by entering into an alliance with the National Conference, he supports the party's promise of a separate flag for Jammu and Kashmir and restoration of Article 370." "Gandhi and his party must explain whether they want to push Jammu and Kashmir back into disorder. Does he support separatism and cross-border terrorism and the National Conference's decision of resuming trade with Pakistan?" Dhami asked during a press conference.

He also described the Congress as a party that always played with the country's unity and integrity due to its lust for power.

Dhami alleged that the alliance exposed the Congress' true intentions.

He said the Congress spread a lie during the Lok Sabha polls that if the Narendra Modi government returned to power at the Centre, the system of reservation would come to an end.

"Would he (Rahul Gandhi) explain if, by entering into an alliance with the National Conference, he supports its agenda of ending the quotas for Gujjar Bakarwals and the hill people of Jammu and Kashmir?" Dhami asked.

Polls to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will be held in three phases -- September 18, September 25 and October 1. The counting of votes will be held on October 4.

National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Thursday announced a pre-poll alliance with the Congress for the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, which is going to the polls for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.

The regional party's vice-president Omar Abdullah on Friday said the seat-share arrangement with the Congress had been finalised for a majority of constituencies and that parleys were under way to reach a consensus over the remainder.