Rahul Gandhi to hold two meetings in J&K on Thursday, media interaction also on cards

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who arrived in Srinagar on Wednesday, is scheduled to hold two meetings with the Congress workers ahead of the Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir to be held in three phases on September 18, September 25, and October 1.

Rahul Gandhi will hold the first workers' meeting at Mumtaz, Radisson Collection Hotel, in Srinagar on Thursday which will be followed by a media interaction at Zewar, Radisson Collection Hotel.

The Congress leader, who is being accompanied by party President Mallikarjun Kharge, will hold another meeting with the party workers at the Celebration Banquet Resort in Jammu division.

The two leaders are staying at Hotel Lalit Palace on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar.

Security has been beefed up in and around the hotel. Both leaders will meet J&K Congress leaders and workers to strengthen the party and improve its poll prospects ahead of the upcoming elections in the Union Territory.

Sources said that the senior Congress leaders are expected to meet National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti to forge a pre-poll alliance against the BJP.

Congress and National Conference had an alliance during the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year as well. Two seats in the Jammu division and the lone Lok Sabha seat in Ladakh went to the Congress, while three seats in the Valley were won by the National Conference.

J&K has been without an elected government since June 2018 after the BJP pulled out of the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government.

Voting will be held for the first phase on September 18, for the second phase on September 28, and for the third phase on October 1.

Counting is scheduled on October 4 and the poll process would be over by October 6.

(With inputs from IANS)