NC, Congress building pressure on each other

Jammu, April 21 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir's ruling coalition partners -- the National Conference (NC) and the Congress -- are building political pressure on each other, ahead of the parliamentary and assembly polls due in 2014.

State Congress chief Saif-ud-din Soz had said in a public meeting April 15 that the "Congress will emerge as the largest political force in the state and will be a crucial factor in the politics of state in 2014 assembly elections".

Countering Soz, chief of the Jammu NC unit, Devender Singh Rana Sunday said: "National Conference has been, is and will continue to remain a major player in the state which it has nurtured by offering innumerable sacrifices."

Rana said that while he held Soz in high esteem, it was necessary to keep in mind the history of the NC-Congress alliance.

The NC-Congress alliance is not for the sake of power but for "the relationship of mutual understanding on the high principles of secularism and democracy which dates back to the times of Jawaharlal Nehru-Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah... Rajiv Gandhi-Farooq Abdullah and now Omar Abdullah and Rahul Gandhi."

"While carrying forward this legacy of mutual respect and understanding, National Conference has never dithered from its belief in the power of the people of Jammu and Kashmir who are the real fountain of power," Rana said.

"Due to obtaining situations in 2008, the National Conference entered into principled alliance with Congress and since then, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been adhering to the coalition dharma with sincerity of purpose," he said.