SRINAGAR: Congress Thursday turned down a proposal by National Conference (NC) to join the Omar Abdullah govt in J&K, saying the party would not deviate from its stand to stay away from the ministry until statehood was restored.“There is no doubt that NC is interested in seeing Congress join the cabinet. But Congress has taken a principled stand that until statehood is restored, it will not join the J&K govt. We have taken the usurpation of constitutional rights seriously. That’s why we have always maintained that Congress is an ally of the NC govt, but a cabinet berth is not acceptable to us until the constitutional right of J&K is restored,” J&K Congress president Tariq Hamid Karra said, adding, “With the Congress leadership at the highest level backing this position, we will not compromise on our principled stand.

”Karra said Congress would continue to support and stand by the NC govt whenever it “feels threatened by BJP”, but that did not mean the party would not raise issues concerning the people, such as inflation and power tariff hike.The response came after deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary said earlier in the day that NC was hopeful Congress would join the Omar govt and make it stronger. NC had earlier invited Congress to join the govt ahead of cabinet expansion, Nasir Aslam Wani, adviser to the CM, said.