Congress leaders K.C. Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh address the media at AICC, in Delhi. File | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

Congress accuses the BJP of trying to subvert the mandate of Jammu and Kashmir by resorting to ‘dirty tricks’

There is a clear danger to the people’s mandate in J&K, says K.C. Venugopal; facing imminent defeat, the BJP is playing desperate games to engineer a majority, says Jairam Ramesh

by · The Hindu

A day before the announcement of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election results, the Congress accused the BJP of trying to “subvert” the verdict of the people in favour of the Congress-National Conference (NC) alliance in the Union Territory.

“There is a clear danger to the people’s mandate in J&K. The INC-NC alliance is on the way to a historic victory, but the BJP is not ready to digest the democratic verdict and is planning to subvert this through any and all means available at its disposal,” Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said in a post on X on Monday (October 7, 2024).

“We are vigilant to all their dirty tricks and will not let them hijack our democracy. The misuse of institutions and the Centre’s powers to alter the mandate will not be tolerated,” Mr. Venugopal added.

While a majority of the exit polls on Saturday gave an edge to the Congress-NC alliance in J&K, the lower end of seat projection points to the possibility of a hung Assembly. The Congress, however, dismissed such a scenario.

A security personnel checks the area around Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), a counting centre for Jammu & Kashmir Assembly elections, a day before the election results, in Srinagar, on October 7, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI

“Facing imminent defeat, the BJP is playing desperate games to engineer a majority and hoping for a hung Assembly to aid them in their subterfuge. They know that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have given a clear mandate to the Congress-National Conference (NC) alliance,” Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

“To undo this democratic process, they have resorted to the old ways of their self-proclaimed bogus ‘Chanakya-niti.’ We have clear information and basis to say that malicious steps are being taken through a colourable and malafide exercise of power to negate the people’s verdict in favour of the INC-NC alliance in J&K. We will do everything in our power to thwart such nefarious designs,” Mr. Ramesh alleged.

J&K Congress chief Tariq Hamid Karra has said the NC-Congress alliance will get a “comfortable majority” in the Assembly election and added that the doors are open for like-minded parties and individuals to keep the BJP out of power.

Published - October 07, 2024 08:37 pm IST