Srinagar, Aug 18 (KNO): Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) President Tariq Hamid Karra on Monday said the consultation process between ruling alliance partners in Jammu & Kashmir is lacking due to the absence of a coordination committee.
In an exclusive conversation with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Karra admitted the lack of consultation between the National Conference (NC) and the Congress in Jammu & Kashmir. “I have heard that too. But the fact is, we are in an alliance and supporting the government from the outside. We are not part of the cabinet. However, the alliance mantra across the country is that whenever there is an alliance between partners, they form a coordination committee. There is always a Common Minimum Programme, and the coordination committee discusses political and administrative issues in consultation. Even transfers are taken up in the committee,” Karra said in response to a question about recent statements by NC leaders that they were not consulted by the Congress regarding its statehood campaign.
Karra said the coordination committee should have been formed immediately after the government was set-up in J&K. “We can say that the consultation process, which should have been in place, is lacking due to the absence of a coordination committee. If anything is missing, it is the coordination committee, which should have been formed immediately after the government was formed,” he said.
He, however, said the Congress doesn’t feel sidelined by the approach of their ally in J&K.
“I wouldn’t say we are being sidelined, but I would say that due to the absence of an established coordination mechanism, there are certain things we ought to have known but we get to know through newspapers,” he said.
When asked about the performance of Omar Abdullah’s nine-month-old government, Karra said the Chief Minister is tied down by limited powers and the absence of a clear demarcation of authority. “He is tied down by certain limitations such as reduced powers and the absence of business rules. In the absence of business rules, anyone would feel handicapped. I believe this lack of business rules is also adversely affecting governance,” he said.
On CM Omar Abdullah’s move to write letters to 42 parties regarding statehood, Karra said he should have written directly to the Prime Minister, as Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge did. “I think the best would have been to write directly to the Prime Minister instead of writing to those parties. He could have written the same way, the way Rahul Gandhi and Mr. Kharge wrote directly to the Prime Minister. That would been better course of action,” he said.
Karra said the discontentment in J&K must be addressed primarily by the Government of India. “Today, the people of J&K feel they are being treated as second-class citizens. I am confident that once the people of J&K enjoy the constitutional guarantees already available to other states, there will be no discontentment,” he said.
To a question about the statehood campaign launched by the party, Karra said statehood is the only achievable thing following the Supreme Court’s verdict on Article 370. “After the Supreme Court’s verdict, the only achievable goal that remains is statehood. The Supreme Court did not give a verdict in favour of the people of J&K but rather in favour of the abrogation of Article 370,” he said.
He said the Congress is advocating for complete statehood. “When I say complete statehood, I mean the kind of statehood granted to states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and others,” he explained.
He argued that Jammu & Kashmir deserves stronger constitutional guarantees. “As far as Jammu & Kashmir is concerned, it should be granted more constitutional guarantees, given that we are surrounded by adversarial countries like China and Pakistan. The people of J&K should feel secure—there should be no discontentment,” he said.
Karra added that the party has campaigned for the restoration of statehood across all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
He said the party has a crucial role in the restoration of J&K’s statehood.
“It cannot be restored without the intervention of the Congress. Even today, Congress has nearly 100 MPs in the Lok Sabha, 40 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, 680 MLAs across the country, and many MLCs. It was the Congress that granted these constitutional guarantees, and without Congress, they may not be restored.
The BJP has nefarious designs vis-à-vis J&K and will continue to have them because of its ideological position on J&K. The undivided J&K has 6 MPs. What will these MPs do without support of Congress?” Karra asked—(KNO)