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| Farooq's absence would further harm the NC | | Assembly polls | | Rustam
JAMMU, Oct 29: The NC is passing through a very critical phase. Actually, its decline started in 2002, when Omar Abdullah -- who was imposed on the state despite the fact that he was a green-horn in politics and that J&K was a very complicated State - was charged with responsibility of leading the party in the Assembly elections. Significantly, Omar Abdullah who contested from the Ganderbal Assembly constituency not only lost the election to the PDP candidate but the party's strength under his leadership was reduced from 57 to 28. In other words, under the leadership of Omar Abdullah, the NC's tally was reduced by more than 50 per cent. Farooq Abdullah had campaigned only in a few constituencies.
The critics of Omar Abdullah and old guards in the NC had then hoped that Farooq Abdullah would learn lesson from the massive defeat and himself lead the party from the front, but it was not to be. Contrarily, Farooq Abdullah reposed faith in Omar Abdullah for reasons too well-known. The result again was that the NC lost the election in 2008. It again won 28 seats. On the other hand, the PDP won more seats and got more votes in the Valley as compared to the NC. The PDP won 19 seats.
Knowing it fully well that Omar Abdullah was not a boon for the party, Farooq Abdullah helped his son occupy the Chief Minister's Chair. As expected, Omar Abdullah not only failed the people of the state and the party itself, but created a situation that has made it difficult for the poll managers in the party to find a safe seat for him. As if all this was not enough to lower the morale of the party cadres, Farooq Abdullah, who was defeated by the PDP candidate in the Lok Sabha election, fell seriously ill. Farooq Abdullah is in London. He is suffering from kidney ailment and has perhaps by now undergone surgery. Omar Abdullah also left for London a day before the Election Commission announced the poll schedule for the Assembly elections in J&K to visit his ailing father.
Reports suggest that Farooq Abdullah is unlikely to campaign for the party candidates. Sources within the party say that Farooq Abdullah's absence from the state at this critical juncture will have "a negative impact on the voters". Of course, Farooq Abdullah's brother Mustafa Kamaal has put up a brave front saying "his absence in the election will matter but he has his supporters across the state who will surely make the party win even in his absence", but the fact remains that his absence would surely mar the electoral chances of the NC, which tried its level best to get the elections postponed on the plea that the time was not ripe for any electoral exercise because the flood devastated parts of the Valley and Srinagar city and many areas of Jammu province.
Indeed, the NC would feel his absence as Omar Abdullah, according to sources with the party, "is incompetent" and "at the receiving end". |
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