Jammu: The Congress in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday said the bypoll result in Budgam reflected “public resentment” over unfulfilled promises and dissatisfaction with the government’s performance while it termed the Nagrota outcome “as expected” as the seat was already with the BJP.
Talking about the bypoll verdict, Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra said the Nagrota seat already belonged to the BJP. “So there is nothing surprising in that result. But as far as Budgam is concerned, there is a change among the people there. We have to see what the reason for that is,” Karra told reporters here.
He maintained that people have expressed their displeasure over the government’s functioning through this vote.
“The chief minister had earlier won from there and later vacated the seat despite promising to retain the one with the higher lead. Even though his Budgam lead was higher, yet he left it,” the Congress leader said.
Karra also said that people have reacted to what he described as “misconduct” by the administration. “People are angry about that too,” he said.
BJP’s Devyani Rana won the Nagrota assembly seat while Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Aga Syed Muntazir won in Budgam.
Karra asserted that the Congress’s statehood campaign has struck a chord with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“We are representing 1.40 crore people. This is their will, their voice that we have raised for the restoration of statehood,” he said.
He said the party launched the ‘Hamari Riyasat, Hamara Haq’ programme to oppose the Centre’s “downgrading and degrading” of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.
“We campaigned across districts, then launched the ‘Jammu Chalo, Srinagar Chalo’ movement, followed by programmes in Delhi with the Congress leadership. We also held a chain hunger strike,” he said.
Karra said the Congress was now entering a new phase of the agitation.
“We are taking this movement to the grassroots. We have named it ‘Har Ghar Dastak, Ghar Ghar Dastak’. Today, we launched it by distributing pamphlets to every household,” he said.
On the Bihar election results, Karra launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission, alleging that the Chief Election Commissioner “played the role of a block president of the BJP”.
“He deserves ‘congratulations’. He facilitated everything for the BJP. It was open poll rigging, a vote-for-money and money-for-vote exercise,” he claimed.
Karra said the Bihar outcome did not reflect the ground reality.
“Rahul Gandhi campaigned extensively. But the ground reality and the results do not match. What people expected at the national and state levels did not happen,” he claimed.
Karra added that despite the setback, the Congress is not demoralised.
“Our morale is high. We will continue to fight this vote theft strongly. The ‘Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod’ campaign launched by Rahul Gandhi will be further intensified,” he said. (With inputs from PTI)
Don’t generalise terrorism, Govt must answer: JK Cong chief on Red Fort blast
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) chief Tariq Hamid Karra on Monday condemned the recent terror attack involving Kashmiri doctors and cautioned against linking the incident to any particular community.
Karra said the attack must be denounced “in the strongest words,” but warned that generalising it would be a grave mistake.
“We condemn it in the strongest words. Do not generalise it. There are good and bad people in every community,” he told reporters here.
Holding the BJP-led Central government accountable for security lapses, Karra questioned its claims on eliminating terrorism post the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A.
“You claimed terrorism was wiped out after scrapping Articles 370 and 35A. Yet you could not control terrorism. This incident happened right under your nose in Delhi. Who is responsible?” he asked.
Karra demanded answers from the Centre, saying the attack had exposed the government’s failure to ensure safety even in the national capital.
His reaction comes in the wake of a high-intensity explosion in a slow-moving car at a traffic signal near the Red Fort Metro station in Delhi on Monday evening, killing 13 people and injuring several others.
A DNA test has confirmed that Umar Nabi, a Kashmiri doctor, was driving the car when it exploded.
Additionally, 2,900 kg of explosives and inflammable material were recovered from two rented rooms of a doctor, also from Kashmir, in Faridabad, before the car blast in Delhi.
Preliminary probe into the blast has suggested links between the two events.
