Congress to attend all-party meet on J&K called by Centre

New Delhi, June 22 (IANS) The Congress has decided to join the all-party meeting on J&K to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 24, the first such meeting after August 2019, when the erstwhile state had lost its special status following the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A.The decision to join the meet was taken at a meeting chaired by interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi, involving party leaders from the states. The meeting was attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Karan Singh, P. Chidambaram and Ghulam Nabi Azad, among others.J&K Congress President Ghulam Ahmad Mir, former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and ex-Deputy CM Tara Chand will attend the meeting called by the Prime Minister, Mir told IANS after the meeting."Sonia-ji called the meeting after we gave our inputs on Monday. The party believes that dialogue is the only way to resolve any problem. No agenda for the meeting has been mentioned in the invitation, so it would not be correct to speculate on it," Mir said.Congress leaders from Jammu and Kashmir had said on Sunday that restoring full statehood and holding elections are the way forward to restore democracy in J&K.Addressing a press conference here, Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala had said, "Let me draw your attention towards the Congress Working Committee resolution on August 6, 2019 whereby it clearly demanded restoration of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir. We believe that undoing it is a direct attack on the democracy and the constitutional principles."Congress believes in granting full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir as also holding elections so that people are able to elect their representatives instead of a rule by Delhi. It is the only way forward to guarantee full democratic rights," he added.
--IANS miz/arm