Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov 30: The campaign for the four seats in the Upper House under Panchayati institution shall come to an end tomorrow evening , only to leave some points to ponder, at least for the 'joint campaign' buzz announced with much political fanfare by the two coalition partners NC and Congress. Wh-ile Omar Abd-ullah and Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz led the cart of joint campaign at various places, it rem-ained conspicuous with one more stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad's continuous absence from the scene at both the places. Why did Union Health Minister , who normally is seen in the state every next week stayed away from the political activities related to polls, much so in the joint campaign programmes, is the moot question .
It is widely known that Ghulam Nabi Azad who remains at distance from any official activity organized under the leadership of PCC chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz , for reasons apparent , did not involve himself in any activity nor even attend any campaign jointly organized by NC and Congress at some places which was addressed by the leaders of the stature of Prof Soz and Omar Abdullah. Sources said Prof Soz had sent official invitation to Azad at least twice, once for a function under joint campaign banner at Handwara last Sunday and another one which was to addressed in Rajouri-Poonch for NC candidate Dr Shehnaz Ganai.
Sources said Prof Soz, perhaps having inkling of Azad not attending these campaign programme, had announced in a section of media that he has sent invitation to Union Health minister to become part of the Handwara show , which was later addressed by Omar Abdullah besides Soz. Azad, on expected lines, did not attend the function, sources said, adding that in order to make his own position clear, Prof Soz played the card well by declaring it that Azad had been invited officially for the campaign. However, Azad did not attend any function either at Kashmir or Jammu, something which has raised some questions about certain aspects his inclination or disinclination with regard to polls for four seats in Legislative Council.
Sources close to Azad faction in J&K Congress attributed Azad's absence from the scene of LC polls in the state to two main factors. One that veteran Congress leader, who is closely associated with J&K's politics, was not willing to the idea of two alliance partners NC and Congress contesting the elections together. This implied that Azad wanted both the parties to contest separately, with Congress contesting two seats from Jammu region and leaving two seats for NC in Kashmir Valley. However, the leadership of both the parties mutually agreed and accepted the idea of contesting one seat each from Jammu and Kashmir, something which is seen for the first time in the history of any election. Sources also said Azad is also not happy with the choice of the party candidates, particularly one , which is why he compeletly stayed away from the campaign programmes which were conducted with much enthusiasm by the leaders of both the parties, who were interestingly seen canvassing for the candidates of the other ally at a number of places.
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