SRINAGAR: An alliance with the Congress is final on all 90 assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said on Thursday.The announcement came after Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge called on the National Conference leadership for a meeting at the Abdullah’s residence at the Gupkar Road.”We had a good meeting, in a cordial atmosphere. The alliance is on track and, God willing, it will run smoothly. The alliance is final. It will be signed this evening and the alliance is on all 90 seats,” Abdullah told reporters.The three-phase elections to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will be held on September 18, September 25 and October 1.The results will be declared on October 4.Abdullah further said, “CPI(M)’s (MY) Tarigami is also with us. I hope our people are with us too and that we win with a huge majority to improve the lives of the people.” Asked about Gandhi’s assurance earlier in the day that it was the priority of the Congress and the INDIA bloc to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah expressed hope that full statehood with all powers would be restored.”Statehood is very important for all of us. This has been promised to us. This state has witnessed bad days and we hope it will be restored with its full powers. For that, we stand together with the INDIA bloc,” he said.Rahul Gandhi had earlier on Thursday said that restoring statehood to Jammu and Kashmir is the priority of the Congress and INDIA bloc. “It is our priority and also of the INDIA bloc to restore statehood in J-K as soon as possible. We had expected this could be done prior to elections, but it is okay, elections have been declared. It is a step forward and we are hoping that statehood will be restored as soon as possible and the democratic rights of the people of J-K will be restored,” Gandhi said at a press conference after an interaction with party workers here.The two parties had contested the Lok Sabha polls together as part of the INDIA Bloc with the Congress losing both the seats in Jammu, while NC lost one of the three it contested in the Kashmir valley.
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