Srinagar Diary: Digvijay to lead Congress talks with NC for RS seat

Digvijay to lead Cong talks with NC for RS seat Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh has been roped in by the party high command to negotiate with the ruling National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir for staking claim to one Rajya Sabha seat from the UT. The Congress with six MLAs in the 90-member J&K Assembly is interested in contesting one of the four vacant RS seats in the UT for which elections will be held on October 24. Given the numbers in the Assembly, the NC is in a comfortable position to win three seats and the BJP one seat. Sources said Digvijay will hold talks with the Abdullahs to convince them to spare one RS seat for the Congress. Need to take forces into confidence on statehood Senior J&K BJP leader Ravindra Raina has said security agencies have to be taken into confidence for statehood restoration. J&K people have seen a lot of death and destruction in the last 30-40 years and there has been mourning in every house, he said. With great difficulty, he said, J&K situation is improving and we are seeing restoration of peace, tranquility and prosperity in J&K. While CM Omar Abdullah and other J&K leaders are demanding immediate restoration of statehood, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have said statehood would be restored at an appropriate time. Tehreek-e-Hurriyat HQ attached under UAPA Police have attached headquarters of banned separatist organisation Tehreek-e-Hurriyat in Srinagar under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with an FIR last year at the Budgam police station. The premises, a three-storey building, had served as the central office of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat. It was situated in the residential compound of late separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. The Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, formed by Geelani in 2004 after he split from his parent organisation, Jamaat-e-Islami, has been declared unlawful by the Centre in 2023. Most of the top and second-rung leadership of the outfit is in jail. Fayaz wani Our correspondent in Jammu and Kashmir fayazwani123@gmail.com