Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov 12: The Congress party has suffered a humiliating defeat in municipalities across the Jammu province but the District Congress Committee has made mockery of itself by issuing whip to the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) councillors.
According to the documents in possession of Early Times, the District Congress Committee Kathua president Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma on November 8, issued whip to Naresh Sharma and three other councillors to remain present during the elections of President Kathua Municipal Council on November 10 and support Rajinder Singh Babbi.
Though according to the widely circulated news, senior Congress leader from Kathua Naresh Sharma along with three other councillor of Kathua had joined the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) on October 29, in the presence of BJP president Ravinder Raina.
"Despite aware of the development and lost ground in Kathua, DCC president Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma issued whip to Naresh Sharma after 12 days of Sharma's joining the BJP, which is embarrassment for the party", a local leader said, adding that it was the arrogant attitude of Congress party that it had not given mandate to some of the supporters of Naresh Sharma during municipality elections.
"Those deserving candidates had contested the elections from various wards of Kathua as independent candidates and won", sources said, adding that it was the flawed understanding of the Congress leadership that they didn't give mandate to true representatives, due to which their only five councillors had won elections.
"Naresh Sharma and his supporters were miffed over the decision of party leadership to give mandate to some non-deserving candidates. BJP banked upon the dissatisfaction of Sharma and his supporter and motivate them to join the BJP and succeed", sources said, adding that Congress party instead of undoing their wrongs, continued with their arrogance, which could be also gauged from the whips issued by DCC president to those who had left the party, days before.
The BJP councillors reportedly didn't get the whip letters and even if they would get, they will simply dump it and same happened on November 10, when former Congress councillor Naresh Sharma become president of Kathua Municipal Council as BJP candidate.
"The Congress party must introspect and give chance to the real representatives rather than preferring nepotism and policy of appeasement, shun arrogance by taking first hand reports from the ground situation otherwise there are bleak possibilities of party to even give a modest opposition", a political analyst said. |
