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NC dashes Azad's hopes to the ground
Rajya Sabha election
1/25/2015 11:03:36 PM
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 25: Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who reportedly tried his level best to enlist the support of the National Conference and the PDP to re-enter the Rajya Sabha, has, it seems, failed in his game plan. The PDP, which has 28 MLAs, has already announced two candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections and left the remaining two seats for its future potential ally BJP. In other words, the PDP has shown thumb to Azad. The Congress has 12 MLAs and it needs the support of 15 NC MLAs and three independent MLAs to win a Rajya Sabha seat. Azad needs the support of 30 MLAs to make it to the Rajya Sabha. Significantly, not all the Congress support Azad. There is a powerful group within the Congress which favours the JKPCC chief, Saif-ud-Din Soz, whose term in the Rajya Sabha will also end next month.
The NC, like the PDP, is also unlikely to help Azad. There are three groups within the NC, which are pulling in different directions. Omar Abdullah, who is the working president of the NC, wants the Congress' support for his father and party president Farooq Abdullah. Farooq Abdullah was defeated by the PDP in the last Lok Sabha election - a defeat that shocked Farooq Abdullah and rattled the entire NC leadership for obvious reasons.
Omar Abdullah has indicated his preference for his father through a tweet and he tweeted to this effect the day the reports appeared in the media that Azad and his men were seeking the support of the NC for the incumbent Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. In fact, Omar Abdullah snubbed Azad by indicating his desire through his tweet. Omar Abdullah has no love lost for Azad. For, Azad criticized Omar a number of times before, during and after the election campaign and held him squarely responsible for the poor performance of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
Interestingly, NC additional general secretary and younger brother of Farooq Abdullah, Mustafa Kamaal, wants the party mandate for his own candidature. Mustfa Kamaal who not only lost the assembly elections but also forfeited his security deposit has said that he has served the party for decades with commitment and devotion and he alone deserves the party mandate. Mustafa Kamaal staked claim after Omar Abdullah expressed himself in favour of his father's candidature. The problem of Mustafa Kamaal is that there is hardly anyone in the coterie of Omar Abdullah who is prepared to extend his support to the NC's additional general secretary.
Then, there is another group within the NC, which says that the party has not taken any decision with regard to the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. This group is not in favour of entering the poll arena and is of the view that it would not be in the long term interest of the party to seek the support of the Congress. It wants the party to hold itself aloof from the Rajya Sabha elections and its view is based on the fact that the NC doesn't have the required numbers.
One thing is very clear: There is almost unanimity among all the NC leaders that "the party must not support Azad, who, instead of following the coalition dharma, criticized Omar Abdullah". Indeed, the PDP and the NC have dashed the hopes of Azad to the ground. Azad will be a free bird after the second week of February. For, there is not a single Congress-ruled state in the country where he can enlist the support of the Congress lawmakers to reenter the Rajya Sabha.
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