| NC, Cong likely to suffer yet another ignominious defeat | | Rajya Sabha elections | | Rustam
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 22: The NC and its former coalition partner Congress, which suffered ignominious defeats in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in 2014, is all set to suffer another massive defeat in the scheduled Rajya Sabha elections on February 7. On the other hand, the PDP, the NC's arch-political rival in the Valley, and the BJP, the Congress's arch political rival in Jammu, are destined to create another history in the state by sweeping the Rajya Sabha polls. The PDP and the BJP are likely to win two seats each. The PDP and the BJP had created a history of sorts in the Lok Sabha elections by wining three seats each, with the NC and Congress biting dust. They also created history in the Assembly elections by winning 28 and 25 seats, respectively, and relegating the NC and the Congress to the third and fourth position, respectively.
The figures favour both the PDP and the BJP. If they contest the election jointly, they will win all the four seats and oust the NC and the Congress from the Rajya Sabha. Both the parties have 53 MLAs. The People's Conference of Sajjad Lone, which has two MLAs, is also likely to make common cause with the BJP. In other words, the PDP and the BJP would command the support of 55 MLAs. This number is more than enough to inflict a crushing defeat on the NC and the Congress. In 2009, the NC and the Congress had 28 and 17 MLAs, respectively, and they had swept the Rajya Sabha polls. Ghulam Nabi Azad and Saif-ud-Din Soz of the Congress and Mohammad Shafi Uri and Ghulam Nabi Rattanpuri of the NC had won the election hands down.
But 2015 is not 2009, when the NC and the Congress were in alliance. Today, the NC and the Congress do not see eye to eye with each other and it is Ghulam Nabi Azad who has embittered the relations between the two parties by attacking mercilessly NC working president Omar Abdullah. Azad has created a political environment in the state that doesn't induce the NC to work together. In fact, Azad has destroyed the Congress in Jammu & Kashmir by making irresponsible statements, including his statements that a grand alliance between the PDP, the NC and the Congress was imperative to keep the BJP out of government and that the existing difference of 13 assembly seats between Jammu province and Kashmir province will be maintained even if a new delimitation commission was appointed to delimit the assembly constituencies de novo.
And, by the way, why should the NC vote for the Congress candidate, if fielded? Why should it not work for the victory of its president Farooq Abdullah, who is out-of-job and singing in the strain of the swan after his massive victory in the Lok Sabha election at the hands of the resurgent PDP? Similarly, why should the Congress vote for the NC candidate and why should it not work for the victory of Azad or Soz, who would be jobless after February 12, as their term in the Rajya Sabha will end then? The point is that the situation favours the PDP and the BJP, with the NC and the Congress neither here nor there. |
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