Azad rules out early Lok Sabha elections

Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Saturday said there was no question of Lok Sabha elections, scheduled for 2014, being held early.

Addressing a press conference jointly with Ambika Soni, Congress general secretary, in charge of Jammu and Kashmir affairs, and Saif-ud-Din Soz, president of the state Congress unit, Azad said: "Holding early Lok Sabha elections is ruled out."

"There is no question of holding these elections earlier than scheduled," he said.

The Congress leaders were addressing the media after a one-day convention of party workers of Jammu division which ended here Saturday.

The convention adopted a resolution which condemned the Pakistani firing on the border and the continuing attempts of infiltration into the state from across the Line of Control (LOC).

The resolution asked the central government to take a serious note of the developments and also take effective steps to check these.

The resolution urged the state government to declare areas falling within eight to 10 km radius of the border in Jammu and Kashmir as backward and extend all the benefits under the provision to the residents of these areas.

The resolution demanded a rehabilitation package for Pakistan refugees who settled in the Jammu division in 1947, 1965 and 1971.

The party workers' convention hailed the passage of the food security bill in the Lok Sabha calling it a historic decision.

Answering a question on whether the Congress would forge an alliance with the National Conference for the forthcoming Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly polls, Ambika Soni said: "It is too early to say anything about that."

Talking about the forthcoming Zubin Mehta concert in Srinagar, Azad said it was a good thing that such an international event was taking place in Kashmir.