The Hindu : BJP taking undue credit on Kashmir: Congress

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Sunday, Feb 22, 2004

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BJP taking undue credit on Kashmir: Congress

By Shujaat Bukhari

The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Syeed, flanked by the chief of the State Congress, Gulam Nabi Azad, and the AICC general secretary, Ambika Soni, at an election rally at Danger Pora in Sopore on Saturday. - Photo: Nissar Ahmad

JAMMU, FEB. 21. The Congress today took on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party, and accused it of taking undue credit for improving the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. It also rebutted claims that no party was ready to ally with the Congress.

The party general secretary, Ambika Soni, told a news conference in Srinagar that the claims made by the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu, that the party had failed to forge any alliance for the coming Lok Sabha elections were baseless. In the past also the Congress had successful alliances with secular parties in Maharashtra, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and other southern States, Ms. Soni said, adding that in the coming elections the party would defeat the communal forces with the help of like-minded secular parties. ``Look at Jammu and Kashmir, our alliance with the PDP has worked so well,'' she said.

She also rejected Mr. Naidu's claim that the party had done nothing in the past 45 years, saying that the party had given the direction to the nation and the present Government was taking ahead the works started by previous governments. ``During the Congress rule, 33 lakh kilometres of roads were built across the country. If this network did not exist, the present Government would not have been able to build highways, which were also conceived by the Congress Governments,'' she said.

Claiming credit for the improved situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Ms. Soni said the NDA Government was wrong in taking credit for it. The Congress had pledged in its manifesto that a dialogue should start with the people who matter and also across the border, she said. Instead ``it was the BJP which only till last year was talking about `aar paar ki ladaayi' (final war). We have struggled inside and outside Parliament to drill into the minds of the Government that only a peace process can achieve solutions to the problem and they (Government) had no other option other than to go ahead with the peace talks,'' she asserted. This was a welcome change in the BJP's mindset.

The Pradesh Congress chief, Ghulam Nabi Azad, also maintained that the change on the ground was visible. He admitted that human rights violations were taking place while fighting militancy, but the Government was also taking required action. He said the policies of the Mufti-led coalition Government were going in the right direction. Mr. Azad said the final decision regarding seat adjustment in the State would be taken by the coordination committee of the coalition Government.

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