Rahul Gandhi & Mallikarjun Kharge reach Srinagar (Lead)

Srinagar, Aug 21 (IANS) Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge reached Srinagar on Wednesday, beginning their two-day visit to J&K.

The programme of the two senior Congress leaders had to be rescheduled because of the Bharat Bandh on Wednesday.

Earlier, they were to begin their visit from Jammu but now they will go to Jammu on Thursday.

The two leaders would drive to Hotel Lalit Palace on the banks of the Dal Lake where they will stay for the night.

Security has been beefed up in and around the Hotel. Both leaders will meet party leaders and workers to strengthen the party and improve its poll chances for the upcoming legislative elections in J&K.

“The two leaders are expected to meet National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti to forge a pre-poll alliance against the BJP during the assembly elections in J&K,” sources said.

There are sufficient indications that the Congress has already worked out a seat-sharing formula with the NC which the two Congress leaders will discuss with the NC leaders during the visit.

“They will discuss seat-sharing formula with the NC here while pre-poll alliance is almost final,” sources said.

Rahul will also meet Pradesh Congress Committee leaders to discuss the seat-sharing formula.

Farooq Abdullah has recently said that there would be no pre-poll alliance with any political party and the NC is confident of getting a majority in the 90-member J&K Assembly on its own.

Congress and the NC had a poll alliance during the Lok Sabha polls as well. Two seats of the Jammu division and the lone Lok Sabha seat of the Ladakh region were given to the Congress while three seats in the Valley were given to the NC.

Congress lost both seats in the Jammu division to the BJP while the Ladakh seat was won by an NC rebel defeating the BJP and the Congress candidates.

Out of the three seats in the Valley, Srinagar and Anantnag-Rajouri were won by the NC while an independent candidate, Engineer Rashid defeated the former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the Baramulla Lok Sabha election.

J&K has been without an elected government since June 2018 when the BJP pulled out of the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government.

The state came under the Governor’s rule and the then Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the state assembly.

On August 5, 2019, Article 370 was abrogated and J&K was divided into two union territories of J&K and Ladakh.

Voting will be held for the first phase on September 18, for the second phase on September 28 and for the third phase on October 1.

Counting is scheduled on October 4 and the poll process would be over by October 6.

–IANS

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