‘The Congress will ensure that J&K gets Statehood again and will establish an Upper House and a Lower House,” the party’s president said at a poll rally in Anantnag
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who announced “five guarantees” during an election rally in south Kashmir’s Anantnag, on Wednesday (September 11, 2024) said his party “will not only strive for J&K’s Statehood but also restore bi-cameral House system” as it existed before the Centre ended the erstwhile State’s special constitutional position in 2019.
“The Congress will ensure that J&K gets Statehood again and will establish an Upper House and a Lower House. How will we do it? With people on our side, we will do it with people’s power,” Mr. Kharge, who joined the party’s election campaign in Kashmir to back candidates jointly fielded by the National Conference (NC)-Congress alliance, said.
Defending the party’s move to stitch an alliance with the NC in J&K, Mr. Kharge said it had “left the BJP frustrated and forced it to repeatedly change the list for J&K”. He said the coming together of the NC and the Congress, and the unity of the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc “has the BJP intimidated”.
“The BJP is trying to divide the people here in the name of religion, but they will never succeed. We are one and will always remain one,” Mr. Kharge said.
He also reached out to migrant Kashmir Pandits. “The promise for rehabilitation of Kashmir Pandit migrants made during the term of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be fulfilled,” Mr. Kharge said.
Flanked by NC president Farooq Abdullah and senior Congress leaders, including K.C. Venugopal and Subodh Kant, the Congress president also read out the party’s “five guarantees”.
They include ₹3,000 per month to the female head of the family, recruitment for one lakh vacant posts, opening of 4,400 government schools, 11 kg rice per family member, health insurance of ₹25 lakh, and interest-free loan of ₹5 lakh to women involved in self-help groups.
“This government did not bring any industry or work on job creation. We will focus on tourism and manufacturing,” Mr. Kharge said.
On the contentious issue of reservation, Mr. Kharge said the Other Backward Class (OBC) groups “will also get their rights as enshrined in the Constitution”.
