JAMMU: State Congress Chief, G.A Mir asserted that the people should realise the power of ballot in a democracy and exercise the real power to express their resentment and dissent against the policies of present dispensation. He said that free and fair polls and people’s participation in this electoral battle would send a right signal against the policies of the Coalition Government of PDP-BJP and there can’t be any better way available to the people to express their anger and resentment and rejection of the policies of the two parties ruling the State. Mir, who is candidate for the Lok Sabha by-polls to the Anantnag Constituency, held a meeting of senior functionaries and prominent leaders of the Party at PCC Headquarters Shaheedi Chowk Jammu, in which senior leaders of National Conference including Vijay Bakaya and Bhushan Lal Bhat former MLCs also attended.
Mir said that Congress and NC have joined hands by seat sharing to strengthen the secular and democratic space and defeat the communal and divisive forces in the State. He said that there is perfect coordination between the leaders and grass root workers of both NC and Congress and hoped that they would leave no stone unturned to ensure the victory of the secular combine of the two parties in Srinagar and Anantnag.
Mir alleged that the administrative machinery should ensure that the elements who are trying to vitiate the atmosphere of free and fair elections should be identified and booked under law so that those trying to create fear psychosis for boycott of elections do not succeed. He alleged that certain hidden forces are creating an atmosphere of fear to dissuade and discourage the voters for their political vested interests and appealed to voters to come out in large number to defeat their strategy.
He made a fervent appeal to the migrant voters to cast their votes in favour of the NC- Congress combine to ensure support to the secular and democratic forces in the State in order to foster and promote the atmosphere of peace and harmony in the State.
Senior leaders of the party who attended and addressed included Senior Vice President Sham Lal Sharma, CLP leader Rigzin Jora, Madan Lal Sharma-Ex-MP, Ch. Aiyaz Ahmed Khan, Gurmukh Singh, Mula Ram, Raman Bhalla, Kanta Bhan, Haider Sheikh, Ravinder Sharma, Rajnish Sharma, Ch. Akram-MLA, Ch. Mumtaz-MLA, Naresh Gupta-MLC, Th Balwan Singh, Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma, Yogesh Sawhney, Vikram Malhotra, Manmohan Singh, Shah Mohammad Choudhary, Faqir Nath, Bashir Niaz, Swaran Lata, Kuldeep Verma, G.L Chalotra, Shiv Dev Singh, Krishan Bhagat, Ashok Dogra, Anil Chopra, Gharu Ram Bhagat, Y.V Sharma, B.S Sambyal, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Shashi Sharma, Pawan Raina, Thomas Khokher, H.L Pandita, Arun Raju, Ashok Gupta, Hari Singh Chib, Chetan Wanchoo, Sanjeev Sharma, Kirtan Singh, Gajan Singh, M.L Malager, P.S Chowan, Dr. RamaKant Khujaria, Sunil Sharma, Gourav Chopra, Padmni Langah, Chanchal Popli, Ram Parkash Magotra and Jai Singh.