National Conference has kept option of alliance open: Rana

In the backdrop of senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's statement dis-favouring 'pre-poll alliance' in Jammu and Kashmir, ruling National Conference today said coalition had become a compulsion and that the party was "keeping the option of alliance open".

"NC has kept the option of alliance open (in Jammu and Kashmir). We can't compromise on our premier role in J&K," Provincial President Devender Singh Rana said.

"National Conference is the only party which can claim of having its existence in all the three regions," Rana said adding that this position cannot be compromised.

Stating that coalition always is a compulsion, he said "the decision with regard to pre or post-poll alliance in the ensuing Lok Sabha and Assembly elections will be taken by the National Conference High Command."

He, however, said party workers and functionaries have all along been pitching for going to polls independently.

"National Conference workers at the grassroot level are of the opinion that entering into any sort of alliance will jeopardize the larger interests of the party.

"The National Conference Working Committee has authorized President Dr Farooq Abdullah and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to take a final call on this important issue and whatever their decision is, that will be final for us because we are a disciplined cadre," he said

Rana, who is believed to be close to Omar, said this during an interaction with a group of students from Delhi, currently on a visit to Jammu.

On Saturday, Union Minister Azad had said that pre-poll alliances with regional parties has wiped out Congress in some of the states and the cadres in J&K were not in favour of any such tie up for state Assembly election slated for next year.

"We fought elections in alliance in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for a long time. After many years, we found that the party in these states was finished," Azad had said.