Broaden party support base: Azad to Cong workers

Jammu, July 28: The Congress has called upon its workers to work at the grassroot level in order to spread the party's achievements across the state and strengthen it at all levels.

Addressing a day-long Congress convention last evening, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said party cadre should go to people and tell them about the government's achievements, including benefits of Roshani scheme, through which they can now claim loan for the land, state subject and even compensation if the land is taken over by the government.

The Congress being a secular, nationalist and people centric party would create a niche and prominent place for itself in the state amidst host of other political parties with divergent ideologies, he said.

Party's district-level conventions were recently held in Kashmir valley and would be organised soon in Jammu division also, he informed.

Mr Azad dwelt in detail on various initiatives taken by the Congress-led coalition government during the past 20 months for massive infrastructure development and welfare measures in the state aiming at ensuring equitable development of all areas.

The Chief Minister welcomed the Supreme Court decision to allow the construction of the Mughal Road, saying a headway had been made in the past year and a half to remove bottleneck in the construction of this important road link.

In his speech, JKPCC president and Education Minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed said it was the Government's firm resolve to ensure equitable and balanced development of all the regions and areas of the state. He said the impact of this policy was already visible on ground.

''We believe in dialogue process to settle all issues amicably by sitting across the table,'' he said.

Union Minister for Water Resources Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz, Minister for Health and Medical Education Mangat Ram Sharma, MPs Madan Lal Sharma and Lal Singh, Minister for R&B Gulchain Singh Charak, Minister for Rural Development Jugal Kishore Sharma and Minister of State for Higher Education Aijaz Ahmad Khan also addressed the convention and urged the party workers to spread the message of the Congress across the state.

UNI