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| WILL NEXT CM BE FROM JAMMU? | | Former Dy CM does plain-speaking, advocates rotational chief minister-ship | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Aug 29: Addressing a gathering of party delegates at Samba on Saturday, Congress veteran and former Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma underlined the need for rotational chief minister-ship in the state. He expressed the view that it would be only desirable of a Congressman heads the coalition government after National Conference leader Omar Abdullah completes three years in office. He told the Congress delegates that the matter would be taken up with the Congress high command so that decks are cleared for the transfer of state power from the National Conference to the Congress.
What Mangat Ram Sharma said was indeed a very rational suggestion. The suggestion, if accepted and it must be accepted in the larger interests of the state, by the party high command, would help the Congress regain the ground it has been losing at an alarming speed in the Jammu province ever since the high command decided to hand over the state power to the "green-horn-in-politics" and "inexperienced" Omar Abdullah. Omar Abdullah has, undoubtedly, failed to deliver on any front and there is no need to elucidate this aspect. For, the entire nation knows that the Chief Minister has only further complicated the already rather complicated situation in the Kashmir Valley.
Anyway, the miserable plight of the Congress in Jammu province could be determined from the fact that its youth wing leaders had to face the police wrath when they took out a peace rally in the winter capital of the state, Jammu, only a few days ago. Though all the ministers, including Deputy Chief Minister, and all the senior Congress leaders, including Mangat Ram Sharma, intervened, yet nothing came out in favour of the thrashed and lathi-charged youth Congress workers. That incident and the complaints of the local Congress leaders that their areas and workers are being consistently discriminated against do indicate that the Congress without whose support the Omar Abdullah-led government could not survive even for a day has been at the receiving end.
In fact, an impression has gained ground in the Jammu province that it is the National Conference that has been playing the shots and that its coalition partner, Congress, is playing the role of second fiddle. JKNPP leader Harsh Dev Singh has gone to the extent of accusing the Congress of being a "B-team" of the National Conference. There is demoralization among the Congress' rank and file. It is a hard fact. The suggestion of Mangat Ram Sharma that a Congressman should lead the government after three years needs to be viewed in this context. The demand is as genuine as it is based on the cardinal principles of coalition politics.
However, it would have been better had Sharma made it loud and clear that the next Chief Minister would be from Jammu province because it is this province that has always pinned faith in the Congress party and that the presence of the Congress party in the Valley is just marginal, confined only to three out of the forty six constituencies. Such a declaration on his part was imperative considering the fact that even in 2008, the people of Jammu returned to the assembly as many as 13 MLAs despite complete polarization in the province because of the Amarnath land row, and that the Congress captured both the Lok Sabha seats in the last general elections inflicting a crushing and humiliating defeat on the BJP candidates, including Leela Karan Sharma and Nirmal Singh.
Even otherwise, the elevation of a Jammu-based Congressman to the position of Chief Minister is imperative considering the fact that both the president of the JKPCC and president of the youth wing of the Congress are from Kashmir. A reasonable balance between the two regions has to be maintained in the larger interest of the state. You cannot have an arrangement that excludes Jammu and hands over every top position in the government and the party to persons belonging to Kashmir.
The Jammu-based Congress leaders would do well to recognize the regional and political sentiments of the people of Jammu province and make sure Jammu gets a Jammu-based Chief Minister on January 5, 2012 and Kashmir gets the office of Deputy Chief Minister. Even the 1967 Gajendragadkar Commission had recommended such a political arrangement in order to maintain a reasonable balance between the two regions, coupled with the suggestion that Ladakh must get due share of representation in the Council of Ministers. |
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