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| Cong leaders on edge as party delays mandates | | Not high command; Soz, Azad finalize names | | Fazal Khan
SRINAGAR, Aug 26: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee taking time to finalize the mandates for the forthcoming Assembly elections can prove "dangerous" for the party as people associated with it believe that delay can hamper the chances of candidates getting enough time to reach out to the people and can lead to activists changing their loyalties.
Pertinently, state unit of Congress party on Monday held its crucial meet here and finalized the list of probable candidates. "Every leader was asked to suggest three to four names from his constituency. We were told that these names will be forwarded to the Congress high command for the approval," a second rung Congress leader told Early Times.
"We have been associated with the party for so many years and know how the system works. Names of the candidates are finalized by the JKPCC chief and other senior leaders. Then the list is forwarded to the Congress high command which just goes through the names to ensure that no wrong candidate gets the mandate," the leader added.
He mocked at what he termed as "drama" of the state Congress leaders to seek three to four names from each constituency. "They do so to put the ball in high commands court and to shrug off the responsibility of their shoulders," the leader said. "The UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the incharge JK affairs Ambika Soni don't have that much time to go through all the five hundred names. They just see the final list."
A source said that Congress high command has authorized the JKPCC chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz and the senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to take a final call on who should be given the party tickets.
A party insider said that hassles associated with Congress leaders getting mandates have disillusioned many people. "Party functions more like a Government office rather than it being a political organization. In the past few years situation has deteriorated as a new culture of even referring small issues to party high command has cropped up," he said, "If party high command has to take every decision then what's the fun of having a JKPCC chief and other leaders in place."
A senior Congress leader said that a few leaders adopting "more loyal than a king approach" have hit the party functioning. "Congress is a national party and every state has its own unit and it functions independently. JK unit of the Congress is the only unit which is totally dependent on the party high command," he said. "The infighting and factionalism within the state Congress have pushed the Congress workers to wall and have made the state unit defunct."
The senior leader said that state Congress leaders should set their "house in order" and names of the candidates who would contest the forthcoming elections should be made public without any delay. "If the list is kept lingering on it can make Congress leaders change their loyalties and won't give enough time to candidates to reach out to the electorate," the leader said, adding, "We had expected that Congress leaders would have a learnt lesson from the past mistakes. Indecisive approach of the Congress leadership during the Parliamentary elections led to party's debacle and paved the way for Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad losing Doda-Udhampur seat to BJP debutant Dr Jitendra Singh."
"Azad's candidature was announced a few days before the polls were scheduled to be held as a result he could not reach out the masses and his election campaign remained incomplete and he lost," the leader said. |
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