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| Coalition of 'fraud, corruption, inefficiency & lack of vision' | | PDP & NC's pre-poll suggestion | | Neha
JAMMU, Jan 31: It is not election time in Jammu and Kashmir. Elections to the Assembly would be held in December 2014 if things remain as they are. The NC will continue to rule till 2014 as there is no possibility of the Congress withdrawing its support to the Government the former has been heading. But the war of words between the ruling NC and the main opposition PDP has already escalated. If, on the one hand, the PDP has made it a point to use each and every available opportunity to expose the "ideological bankruptcy" of NC and what it calls its "anti-people" policies, the NC has, on the other hand, unleashed a relentless campaign against the PDP with a view to creating an impression in the Kashmir valley that the party of the Muftis is "no alternative" to it, as it is highly "opportunist and power hungry" and "bereft of any ideology". The fact is that both the Kashmir-based parties have upped the ante against each other, with the PDP really on the offensive.
It is the NC which has provided what could be described as a God-sent opportunity to its arch-political rival, PDP, in the Valley by publicly favouring a pre-poll alliance with the Congress party, coupled with an unambiguous statement that a pre-poll alliance is imperative to keep the PDP away from the state's corridors of power or out of power. The pre-poll suggestion was made by none other than NC working president and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah some two months ago and practically endorsed by the NC president Farooq Abdullah during the NC working committee meeting held in Jammu in December. Ever since then, the upbeat PDP leadership has been exploiting this suggestion to the hilt and telling the people of the State in general and Kashmir valley in particular that the NC ha conceded defeat even before the D-day.
Even yesterday, two senior PDP leaders, including the party spokesperson Naeem Akhtar, questioned the very claims of the NC leadership that it has provided a fair and people-centric administration and that it enjoys the confidence of the people. In fact, they issued a joint statement, which was nothing but a scathing attack on the NC leadership and the State administration.
They described the NC-Congress coalition as a coalition of "fraud, corruption, inefficiency and lack of vision" and asserted that the present coalition has conducted itself in a fashion that has resulted in stagnation of the State in an environment of overall growth. "Fairy tales don't get votes anymore in a State that now knows that Governments can bring change in their lives as they witnessed for a brief while when NC was marginalized after 2002," their statement said. "On one hand, Omar Sahab claims he is not worried about his criticism by the opposition, while, on the other, he talks more about PDP than his own party. In a democracy it is the duty of the opposition to expose the weaknesses of the Government and highlight people's problems 'but the despotic and arrogant mindset of NC born out of its long held monopoly' doesn't allow it to see this as a normal political activity," the statement also said.
The PDP leaders not only pooh-poohed the claim of the NC that it has provided an efficient administration to the people, undertaken developmental activities on an unprecedented scale and restored peace in the Valley, but also turned the tables on Omar Abdullah saying his pre-poll alliance suggestion has cleared the air and established that the Kashmir's premier religio-political organization has lost its appeal and sheen and become thoroughly unpopular because of its acts of omission and commission. "If Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is so confident about his four year report card and public support, he should not be seen begging for an alliance with Congress," they said and added that "the fact is that the Chief Minister is extremely jittery about his future and his bravado doesn't match either his performance at the ground or the political credibility of his party".
The PDP leaders did make a point when they underlined with greater emphasis the Chief Minister's pre-poll alliance suggestion. Indeed, the Chief Minister displayed political naivety by making such a suggestion and that too at a most inappropriate time. Only those who consider themselves weak make such suggestions. |
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