National Conference Provincial Headquarters in the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir kept reverberating with crackers and drum beating on every report trickling in about the party winning all the three seats of Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag it contested in the just concluded general elections to Lok Sabha.
Led by Provincial President Mr Devender Singh Rana along with senior leaders, the National Conference workers rejoiced the victory of the party President Dr Farooq Abdullah from Srinagar parliamentary constituency, Mr Mohammed Akbar Lone from Baramulla and Justice (Retired) Hasnain Masoodi from Anantnag Lok Sabha seat.
“This is the victory of the progressive and forward looking policies of National Conference and inspiring leadership of Dr Farooq Abdullah and Mr Omar Abdullah”, Mr Devender Singh Rana told the reporters at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan here this afternoon.
Mr Rana described today’s victory as a semi-final to the finals of assembly elections which will witness National Conference forming the government in Jammu and Kashmir on its own.
He said Jammu and Ladakh regions too will witness the party getting maximum number of seats like in Kashmir, leading National Conference to absolute majority.
He said National Conference is a force to reckon with, which has started bouncing back in full steam.
He termed the non-NC coalitions as aberration, adding that the previous BJP-PDP dispensation turned out to be a big disaster that pushed the state to morass and political instability with people of all the three regions feeling dejected and deprived.
He said the failures of this insensitive coalition took the state to backwards on developmental front.
When asked about the BJP staging comeback at the Centre and its impact on the politics of Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Rana said that the two elections are quite different.
While the Lok Sabha elections were aimed at the formation of the government at the Centre, the assembly elections are all about addressing to the political, economic and developmental aspirations of the state, which can only be assuaged by the National Conference.
This has been substantiated many a times in the past when the governments led by National Conference worked towards development and progress of the three regions with opportunities to all, irrespective of regional or religious aspirations, he maintained.
“The contestants in the assembly elections will have to stand to the aspirations and expectations of their electorate here on ground zero”, Mr Rana said in reply to a question, adding that the performance of the BJP legislators is not a distant memory but still afresh in the minds of the people, who feel haunted by over three years of misrule.
He exuded confidence that National Conference will secure the absolute mandate of the people and work for their betterment.
Prominent among those present on the occasion included former ministers Mr Ajay Kumar Sadhotra and Mr Surjeet Singh Salathia, Mr B. R Kundal and Mr Abdul Gani Malik, former legislators Mr Rattan Lal Gupta, Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, Th. Kashmir Singh, Qazi Jalal Ud Din, Mr. Sardar Tarlochan Singh Wazir, Dr. Kamal Arora, Mrs Bimla Luthra, Mrs Deepender Kour, Mrs Swarn Latta, , Dr Gagan Bhagat besides Mr. Mr Jugal Mahajan, S. Gurdeep Singh Sasan, Mrs Satwant Kour Dogra, Mrs Vijay Laxami Dutta, Mr Mohinder Singh, Mr Pardeep Bali, Mr Dharamveer Singh Jamwal, Mr Abdul Gani Teli, Mrs Daljeet Sharma, Mr Ashok Singh Manhas, Mr Ravi Dogra, Mr Ashok Kumar Dogra, Mrs Rashida Begum, Mr S. Sandeep Singh, S. Gurnam Singh, Mr Iftkair Choudhary, Mr Sian Dass, Mr Som Raj Taroch, Mrs Rekha Manhas, Mrs Anju Drover, Mr Rohit Bali, Mr Rohit Kerni, S. Tejinder Singh, Mr Nitish Gowsami, Kr. Yashwardan Singh, Mr Rakesh Koul, Mrs Asha Mehra, Mr Tanveer Babzda, Mr Varinder Pal Lakhotra, Mr Shabir, Mohd Rashid Retd Col and others.
