J&K: Congress rules out support to PDP

New Delhi, July 3: The Congress said that it favoured an early election and ruled out extending support to the PDP to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir.

General Secretary in-charge of the state Ambika Soni told reporters after a meeting of the party's policy planning group on Kashmir that the party will prepare for fresh elections on the basis of its programmes, while a meeting of 100 senior party leaders from all three regions of the state will be held in Srinagar on Tuesday to chalk out the future roadmap.

The meeting, held at the residence of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was attended by former Union Ministers P. Chidambaram and Ghulam Nabi Azad, state Congress chief G.A. Mir and former MP Tareeq Hameed Karra. It was the second meeting of the group since imposition of Governor's Rule.

"We (Congress) want early election in state. We have demanded that there should be an election as early as possible. The roadmap of the election will be discussed tomorrow (Tuesday). We need to strengthen our party first," she said. She said Governor's Rule should not be there in the state for more than five to six months.