New Delhi: The Congress is open to talks with like-minded parties to strike a “respectable alliance” for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls but the parameters for such a tie-up would be different from the Lok Sabha elections, the party’s newly- appointed Jammu and Kashmir chief Tariq Hameed Karra said on Monday. In an interview, Karra also said Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) had been “outrightly rejected” by the people, who “punished” the outfit for the “idea of leaving the Congress”. The former MP said “restoration of statehood” was of “paramount” importance for the Congress and accused the Centre of taking the “unconstitutional” step of relegating a state to a Union Territory (UT). Karra, who became the Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief last week, replacing Vikar Rasool Wani, said a call was already there for all secular parties opposed to the “hegemonic attitude” of the BJP to unite. Asked if the Congress would align with parties such as the National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Karra said, “The previous coalition (for parliamentary polls) had different parameters; it was at the national level and parameters are always different between parliamentary elections and assembly elections.” “So, we will have to talk within ourselves also, to my leadership in Jammu and Kashmir. We have been given