"Unfortunate...Congress is standing with Pakistan": Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan

New Delhi [India], September 19 : As Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif backed the Congress-NC alliance's stand on Article 370, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday called it "unfortunate" and said that Congress is standing with Pakistan.
"The statement of the Pakistan Defence Minister proves that Pakistan, the Congress party and NC have the same intentions and agenda. That's why Rahul Gandhi gives anti-national statements, asks for evidence of an airstrike and surgical strike and makes objectionable comments about the Army. This is very unfortunate. Today, Rahul Gandhi's Congress is standing with Pakistan. PM Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister of this nation. Neither Article 370 will reinstate nor terrorism will exist. Their (Congress, NC and Pakistan) plans will never succeed," Chouhan told reporters.
Meanwhile, the working president of J-K BJP, Sat Sharma, said that Congress and NC political parties have always supported "separatism" in Jammu and Kashmir.
"These political parties have always supported separatism here. Pakistan has always spread terrorism here. That's why today the Pakistan Defence Minister has given such a statement...These political parties have always worked on the orders of Pakistan...Pakistan's interference in the matters of India will not be tolerated," Sharma said.
BJP candidate from Udhampur West Assembly constituency, Pawan Kumar Gupta, reacted to the Pakistan Defence Minister reportedly backing the Congress-NC alliance's stand on Article 370 and said that Congress has never been able to understand the people of Kashmir.
"Congress, PDP and NC have always misused Article 370...You cannot have a nation within a nation...Their demand is irrelevant. Those who were most troubled by the abrogation of Article 370, it was China and Pakistan. If Congress and NC are troubled by this on the same note, then there is no place for such parties in the politics," Gupta said.
Earlier speaking on Geo News to senior journalist Hamid Mir in a show Capital Talk, the Pakistan Defence Minister was asked whether Pakistan and the National Conference-Congress alliance are on the same page regarding the restoration of Article 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir.
Khwaja Asif replied, "Absolutely. Even our demand is also the same..."
The Pakistan Minister also claimed that Article 370 could return should the NC-Congress alliance come to power in J-K.
"I think it is possible. Currently, the National Conference and Congress have very big importance over there. The population of the valley has been motivated a lot on this issue and I believe, there is a chance that the Conference (National Conference) will come to power. They have made this an election issue that the status of Jammu and Kashmir should be restored," Asif told Geo News.