Take Kashmir but don't talk of Hyderabad, Soz claimed Patel told the then Pak PM.
The BJP offers Saifuddin Soz 'one-way ticket' to Pakistan
The Congress on Sunday expressed confidence that it would emerge as the single largest party in Jammu and Kashmir and 'determine' the future of the new government. "The Congress will emerge as the single largest party. And if it is a coalition government, the Congress will determine its future," Union Minister and Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress chief Saifuddin Soz said, with early trends of the poll results indicating a hung assembly.
The Congress on Monday distanced itself from the controversial comments of some of its leaders on the Pahalgam terror attack, saying that only the recent CWC resolution and the views expressed by AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and authorised AICC office-bearers represent its position. The opposition party's assertion comes in the wake of remarks by leaders like Vijay Wadettiwar, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Shashi Tharoor, Tariq Hameed Karra and Saifuddin Soz that have triggered a row, with the BJP alleging that some from the opposition party were speaking "Pakistan's language".
Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad are both set to enter the Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir. Congress president Sonia Gandhi cleared their names and both the Congress leaders would be filing their nomination papers on Tuesday.
Commenting on state Congress president Saifuddin Soz's statement, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said he will hold talks with the alliance party over plans to withdraw the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Soz had slammed Abdullah for not consulting the Congress or the home minister on the AFSPA issue. "I am not going to react to what Professor Saifuddin Soz has said. As a chief minister, I am well aware of my responsibilities," said Omar.
In controversial remarks, Maharashtra Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Monday said terrorists have no caste or religion and questioned veracity of the claim that terrorists asked about faith of tourists before killing them in Kashmir's Pahalgam town last week.
Former union minister and senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz was hackled in one of the relief camps in Kashmir with flood victims expressing anger over alleged absence of state government officials during relief works.
Pakistan has said India violated the Indus Water Treaty.
India on Wednesday sent a high-level 12-member Parliamentary delegation led by Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress chief Professor Saifuddin Soz to Pakistan to look for a political solution to the Kashmir tangle. This the first visit of an Indian delegation to Islamabad after United States' forces smoked out Osama bin Laden from his hideout in Pakistan's cantonment town of Abbottabad.
Noting that the economic crisis had underlined an urgent need for reform in the international financial structure, member of parliament Saifuddin Soz called for a greater role for developing nations in norm-setting and decision-making bodies like the International Monetary Fund.
Charging Public Accounts Committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi of having ''malafide intention'' of destabilising the government, the Congress and Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam leaders of the panel on Wednesday demanded his resignation over the draft report on the 2G spectrum scam.
Ahead of the all-party delegation's visit to Kashmir Valley next week, Congress President Sonia Gandhi held deliberations with senior party leaders on the strategy for the troubled state.
Within hours of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's expulsion from the CPI-M, several leaders from the ruling UPA coalition thronged his residence to express their solidarity with one expressing readiness to accept the veteran Marxist in his party.
The Congress on Tuesday said that the party's stand on the resolution seeking amnesty for Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru will be decided by its legislators.
UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi praised the courage and spirit of Kashmiri women who had "been through the worst during the violence in the state."
The decision was taken a meeting held by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi with Mukherjee, Chidambaram and other senior leaders like A K Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Prithviraj Chavan and Saifuddin Soz, party sources said
"Since home minister has called a meeting of the chief ministers on internal security on Januray 6, I hope to take over before that so that I could represent J&K as the chief minister. But we have few formalities. The governor's rule has to be revoked before that," Omar Abdullah said.
Upbeat over the outcome of the assembly elections, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hit the campaign trail in Jammu and Kashmir on December 14.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday reviewed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir where violence is continuing over the Amarnath land row.
Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti on Saturday said it is ready to meet Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil "individually" or selected members of the all-party delegation, but will boycott National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti and Union Minister for Water Resources Saifuddin Soz.
Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti on Saturday said it will boycott the all-party delegation's visit to Jammu alleging that three of its members, including National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti, were "responsible for the land row".
Patkar said she expected some concrete action from the Centre on the Narmada Bachao Andolan's demand for rehabilitation of the project-affected people and reversal of the decision to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam.
In changes ahead of crucial Assembly elections, the Congress on Wednesday made Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi its state unit chief in the Left-ruled West Bengal and appointed two other union ministers as party heads in Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi was on Sunday greeted by a host of dignitaries, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on her 62nd birthday.
Spokesperson for the Jammu and Kashmir administration Rohit Kansal said there is no question of lying in the apex court and reiterated the stand that Soz is a free man.
The Congress high command held long discussions with former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and state congress chief Saifuddin Soz, but no decision was taken during the meeting whether to support the National Conference to form new government headed by Omar Abdullah.
There are many factors, many actors to blame for the current situation. But I must admit that actors and the government have spent too much time being involved in situations that were not that important, says Kashmir Congress chief Saifuddin Soz in an interview.
Patil, who is visiting the state for the first time after she assumed office as President, went to a bunker located at 9,600 ft altitude and interacted with army officers and jawans. "I am so delighted to visit this very important and strategic post. I simply admire courage and morale of the jawans who are keeping vigil on the border day and night in such a hazardous area and climatic conditions," Patil wrote in visitors book at Tangdhar.
In a word of advice to Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, state Congress chief Saifuddin Soz on Tuesday said the National Conference leader should "not get emotional" over the allegation of him being involved in a sex scandal and press for his resignation.
The Gujarat chief minister thanked all political parties, which supported the government on the issue of increasing the height of the dam and for opposing the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz emphasised that river Jhelum, on which the project is proposed to be built, is a 'symbol of our civilisation' and cannot lose the right of navigation on it.
The two states are sharply divided over the height of the dam in Idukki district of Kerala.
Saddam, a businessman, is the eldest among the two siblings. He has studied in England. Sofiya Nabi Azad, his sister, has studied journalism.
As the deadlock over government formation in Jammu and Kashmir continued, the state unit of Congress on Thursday backed Peoples Democratic Party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to lead the new dispensation to respect the people's verdict in the just-concluded assembly elections.
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