Srinagar: Senior PDP leader Altaf Bukhari on Wednesday said that the senior leaders of the National Conference, PDP and the Congress have agreed to make an alliance in order to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir.
Talking to reporters outside his residence in Srinagar, Bukhari said, ” I will confirm this that the leaders pf PDP, NC and the Congress have agreed to form an alliance. What are the contours of the alliance have not come down to the level of MLAs. I am an MLA and that is what I have been told that an alliance has been agreed upon.”
He added that around 60 MLAs of all the parties are on board.
Bukhari pointed out that the alliance has been formed to cater the ‘aspirations of the people of Kashmir and to protect the special status of the state.’
“This alliance is not for the sake of ruling. It has been formed for the protection of the special identity which we have constitutionally. Article 370 and 35-A are under attack. We have to respond,” he said.
The former Finance Minister added that the alliance is not a ‘counter’ to the emerging ‘third front’ in the state.
“In democracy, may fronts come up. But here no front is coming up. if 60 MLAs join hands, that would be a majority,” he said.
Bukhari, according to reports, is emerging as the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance, however he said that right now he dosen’t know anything beyond the fact that an alliance has been agreed upon to protect the special status of the state.
He also informed that an official announcement regarding the alliance will be made in one or two days.
Earlier, Senior Congress Leader Ghulam Nabi Azad had confirmed that talks between the three parties are already going on.
While speaking to Free Press Kashmir, J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president G.A. Mir says that he has no information about the meeting, however, he is not against the idea, “given the way communal forces have/ are planning to execute venomous ideas in the state.”
“If, on a national level, like minded people are putting forward their ideas, making it a role model and turning it into one single voice to fight against communal forces, won’t be wrong,” said Mir adding, “The naked-dance BJP has been performing and plans on doing here are evident by the way situation has turned tense here for last 4 years.”
The development has happened a day after PDP heavy weight Muzaffar Hussain Baig said that he was ready to join a ‘third front’ if it emerges in Jammu and Kashmir.
