Srinagar: Even as the opposition Peoples Democratic Party has finalized more than two dozen candidates for the forthcoming assembly elections, the ruling National Conference is still waiting for its patron Farooq Abdullah, who is abroad for reportedly a medical consultation. Meanwhile the Working President Omar Abdullah Wednesday said the final decision on the issue of electoral alliance with Congress or any other police force in J&K would be taken by the Party President Farooq Abdullah after due consultations with party leaders and grassroots workers. The party is yet to decide on the list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections but the NC Working President said that National Conference would give PDP a fight and asserted that the party would finalize the list of candidates only after consulting Farooq Abdullah, who is the chief patron of the party.
Omar Abdullah said that the party’s Parliamentary Board would be meeting soon so that the first list of candidates for the coming Assembly Elections would be announced after due feedback is gathered from the grassroots level and consensus is evolved at various relevant forums within the party. Omar Abdullah said that it would be the party’s endeavor to announce candidates soon so that they could start focusing on their respective assembly segments.
In an important development, the NC Working President announced the constitution of a High-Level Committee under the Chairmanship of Senior NC Leader Mohammad Shafi Uri to recommend medium to long-term measures to revitalize the organizational strength of National Conference. Members to the Committee would include G. N. Ratanpuri, S. S. Salathia, Irfan Ahmed Shah, Khalid Najeeb Suharwardy, Mehboob Beg and Sardar Harbans Singh. The Committee would be given three months to come up with recommendations of medium and long term measures that the party needs to take to consolidate and strengthen its ideological roots in the State.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday the NC General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar during the Central Working Committee said that Omar Abdullah was the only Chief Minister who spoke strongly and fearlessly about the resolution of the Kashmir Issue on the floor of the State Legislative Assembly and also in front of the former Prime Minister of India during his visit to the State.
Ali Mohammad Sagar, NC general secretary has confirmed the reports saying that the party was waiting for the arrival of its patron Farooq Abdullah who is presently outside country. We have asked the district presidents to submit the panels of three candidates from each assembly segment and the list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections will be finalized by the partys parliamentary board which may itself go for a slight reshaping on the directions of the party president, Sagar told a newsgathering agency. Reliable sources that Farooq Abdullah is likely to preside over the meeting of its parliamentary board next week wherein the final list of its candidates for the upcoming assembly elections will get shaped.
Party sources said that each block president of each constituency has been asked to come up with at least three names who have more acceptability and chances of ‘winability’ in the constituency. These names will be then discussed in a meeting later and a consensus will be evolved on a final candidate who will be given party mandate to contest the upcoming assembly elections. This time many new faces who have more acceptability among people will be given a chance to contest the assembly elections. Their names will be evolved after a threadbare consensus and the exercise has already been kick-started by the party, a senior NC leader said.
The NC general secretary informed that the party held an important meeting today wherein chief minister Omar Abdullah gave a patient hearing to the party office bearers and the workers who attended the meeting. The recent decisions taken by the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah including enhancement in retirement age, inclusion of five years of services to ReTs, amendment in SRO 43, comprehensive plan for employment and the probable hike in ration and reduction in power tariff were highly appreciated by the party, Sagar added.
The NC general secretary said the meeting discussed reasons and causes for the partys defeat in the recently held Lok Sabha elections and members gave suggestions that can go in long way for partys imminent success in upcoming assembly elections. The meeting discussed the strategy in order to bounce back in the upcoming assembly elections. The morale of caes is very high and we are destined to bounce back in the upcoming assembly elections, he added. In order to harness the dividends of some of the major decisions taken recently, the National Conference is regularly convening meetings of its caes from Kashmir province since it witnessed shocking results in recently held Lok Sabah elections wherein all its three candidates lost elections to partys arch rival PDP.
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