Jammu, Aug. 28 -- The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Congress on Thursday spurned the offer of the National Conference (NC) to join the council of ministers. Addressing mediapersons during a workers' conclave in Reasi, party's J&K president Tariq Hameed Karra said, "There is no doubt that the NC is interested in including Congress in the council of ministers. However, Congress has, for the past two years, adopted a principled stand. Until the Centre restores the rights of 1.40 crore people of J&K that were taken away unilaterally, undemocratically and unconstitutionally, we won't be part of the cabinet." He was referring to the abrogation of Article 370 seven years ago, which turned J&K into a union territory. However, Karra clarified that the Congress would continue to support the National Conference-led government whenever the BJP threatens its stability. Karra also said the party's support to the government will not prevent it from raising issues concerning governance and the fulfilment of the commitments made to the people. Karra also said that the party consistently maintained this stand for the past two years and would not compromise on it for ministerial berths. "Do you think that just for the sake of becoming a minister, we would compromise on such a principled stand that is in the interest of people? No, we will not," he said. Earlier in the day, J&K deputy chief minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary said Congress, being an alliance partner, has every right to join the Omar Abdullah-led government and expressed hope that it would soon take a decision in this regard. Karra cornered the National Conference over the recent power tariff hike of 6.83%. He also said that the BJP had no right to raise questions. "The J&K government is de facto being run by them. Ask them what they did when they were running a double-engine government in J&K. We are part of the NC government, but it doesn't mean that Congress will stop raising the issues of the people," he said, adding that his party expected a one-time amnesty scheme for poor consumers....