New Delhi: Expressing disappointment over Assembly election results in Jharkhand, Congress on Tuesday said all non-BJP parties in that state should have come together on one platform to counter BJP, even as it offered support to PDP in government formation in Jammu and Kashmir.
The party spokesperson Ajoy Kumar told reporters here: “In Jammu and Kashmir we have done reasonably well, though we have lost two-three seats from what we had got in last elections. But that is an expected after such a massive drubbing in Lok Sabha polls.
“All exit polls had written us off but from that aspect Congress has improved its position than that in Lok Sabha polls,” Kumar added.
Replying to questions on supporting PDP to form the next government in J&K, he said that the ball is in PDP’s court now.
“PDP should come and ask for it. We have been with the PDP alliance earlier. We are open for that. It is for the PDP to respond to… We are not averse to it. But they have to come and seek (support) it,” he said.
He said the issue of support can be decided after talks between leaders and back-channel negotiations must happen so that both sides can reach an agreement on issues.
“If those agreements are there, I do not think this is an issue…We are open to having a discussion with the PDP on government formation,” the Congress spokesperson said.
He said that the PDP should think about “preventing communal forces, parties like the BJP” from entering into an agreement with it but it is “they, who have to think of an alliance with Congress to keep communal forces at bay.”
Maintaining that his party’s aim is to provide a government that works for the development of the state, Kumar made it clear that, “formal communication with PDP has not been started as yet.”
Noting that the tally of Congress has gone down in both states in comparison to what it had got in the last Assembly elections there, Kumar said it is still better when compared to its vote percentage in the Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said that Congress was “open” to aligning with PDP in the state to provide a government.
“We are always open. We have allied with PDP as well as with National Conference in past. One thing is clear that we will not go with BJP. As far as they (PDP and NC) are concerned, we have had alliances with them,” Azad said.
Azad, who campaigned extensively for the party in the elections, had earlier led a coalition government with PDP which had fallen apart on the Amarnath issue.
Azad’s remarks came as trends clearly indicated that PDP is in a position to form the next government in the state with the support of either of the two national parties.
