Congress "natural ally"; will not join NDA: Mufti Mohd Sayeed

SRINAGAR: Opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) today reached out to Congress saying the party was its "natural ally" even as it scotched any talk of joining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with all eyes on Lok Sabha polls next year.

"There is no alliance (with NDA)... Congress is our natural ally," PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said in response to questions as to which camp his party would prefer to join.

"Jammu and Kashmir had a golden period during the PDP- Congress alliance government (between 2002 and 2008)," he said.

Congress is presently part of the coalition government in J-K partnering National Conference.

Sayeed, however, praised the former NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, saying it had supported the "healing touch" policy launched in 2003.

He also lauded the NDA government for approving the widening of the National Highway from Srinagar to Jammu, which was taken up by Sayeed during his tenure as chief minister.

Sayeed also praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for generously supporting the state.

He said the Centre had accepted all the demands for the development of J-K and referred to the Rs 24,000 crore Reconstruction Plan for J-K announced in November 2004.

"Whatever signs of development you see in the state are because of that (Reconstruction Plan)," he added.

Sayeed, however, declined to comment when asked to give his opinion as to the difference between the Vajpayee-led BJP and the party under Narendra Modi, its prime ministerial candidate for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

"I have experience of working with Vajpayee when he was the Prime Minister, but I have no experience of working with Modi," he said.