Congress for fresh polls in J-K, says 'not optimistic' of PDP-BJP coalition

Congress leader Salman Soz on Saturday said that he was not optimistic about the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) joining hands for government formation in Jammu and Kashmir and called for fresh elections in the state.

"These two political parties are opposites. The mandates that they got in respective places they were very different mandates. AFSPA and [Article] 370 and other things, these are two of the many major issues that separate them," Soz told ANI here.

"This is happening when the government is still being formed, how will it run on a day-to-day basis and RSS is interfering already. I am not very optimistic anymore," he added.

Soz further said the people of Jammu and Kashmir should either get a government or there should be fresh elections.

"This cannot continue. We had a massive flooding in Jammu and Kashmir. The people need rehabilitation. We have to reconstruct and its takes time. And every day that passes is a lost opportunity and how long people are going to wait," he added.

The Congress leader also accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of interfering in all decisions of the BJP-led government at the Centre.

"RSS basically runs the BJP government at the Centre as far as we can tell. RSS being a socio-cultural organisation, it's a deeply political organisation which I personally feel is not always working in the national interest," Soz said.

"The PDP should take note that if RSS is going to interfere at this stage in this way so openly, so brazenly, how can a stable government be formed there," he added.

According to reports, Jammu and Kashmir is all set to have a BJP-PDP alliance government soon as both parties are believed to have firmed up a carefully drafted Common Minimum Programme (CMP) touching all controversial issues like Article 370 and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections threw up a hung verdict, with the PDP emerging as the single-largest party winning 28 seats. The BJP won 25 seats while the National Conference and Congress won 15 and 12 seats respectively.