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| Worried over his prospects, Omar baiting opposition to retain Ganderbal | | |
Majid Ahmad
SRINAGAR, Aug 27: With assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir drawing nearer, it seems Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is using every tactic to secure his Ganderbal constituency where from he had won 2008 election.
Omar began to execute his strategy late last year when he motivated Democratic Party (Nationalist) candidate Farooq Ganderbali, who had contested 2008 election against the Chief Minister, to join National Conference (NC). Ganderbali had secured more than 2600 votes against Omar in 2008.
Omar didn't stop here and motivated another prominent leader and Congress candidate Sheikh Ishfaq Jabbar to join NC. Ishfaq who had secured close to 8000 votes in 2008 against Omar, joined NC last week.
Sources told Early Times that NC and Omar are baiting People Democratic Party (PDP) candidate from Ganderbal and former Minister Qazi Mohammad Afzal to come into NC fold. "NC has given enough indications to Qazi that if he joins the party he will be accommodated as MLC. Same promise has been made with Ishfaq. Omar Abdullah is desperate to avoid 2002 like situation when he had to taste defeat from Ganderbal and ultimately NC had to leave the power," they said.
The NC took the decision to woo Ganderbali and Ishfaq to join the party despite the fact both were leaders of coalition partners DP (N) led by Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir and Congress respectively. "NC even didn't care about its coalition partners as it is desperate to retain Ganderbal constituency," sources said.
State Congress president Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz had recently said that NC had unnecessarily created an atmosphere of bickering in the coalition by wooing Ishfaq. "Their move has definitely hurt the coalition dharma," he had said.
However, political analysts believe that despite joining of Ganderbali and Ishfaq, it will be difficult for Omar to retain Ganderbal seat. "There is lot of resentment against NC and Omar in Ganderbal. If Ganderbali and Ishfaq had secured substantial number of votes in last elections, it was due to their personal rapport with the people. They can't motivate their voters to vote for Omar as anti-incumbency factor will play a great role in Ganderbal," they said.
"The internal bickering within NC in Ganderbal will deepen after Ishfaq's joining. There are already several lobbies in Ganderbal NC led by MLC Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, Sheikh Ghulam Ahmad Saloora, Mohammad Yosuf and Farooq Ganderbali. Joining of Ishfaq will create more confusion and chaos," they claimed.
Ishfaq's father late Sheikh Jabbar who was killed by militants in 1990 was pivotal in toppling the NC Government headed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah in 1984.
After joining NC Ishfaq had said that he didn't want people of Ganderbal to get divided through triangular contest. "There will be only two-way contest now," he had said, hinting that he would support Chief Minister in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Ishfaq admitted that there was a commitment between him and the Chief Minister. "I can't make that public at this juncture," he said. |
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