Rustam
Jammu, Sept 3: The Congress party has a limited support-base in the state. The Congress leadership realizes it. At the same time, it asks members of the executive committee of the JKPCC that it must start working in right earnest to capture a minimum of 50 seats in the 87-member Legislative Assembly. It was none other than Union Health Minister and former JKPCC president who actually talked about the Congress constituency in the state and urged the party leaders and workers to put in hard work so that the party captures 50 seats and forms Government in the state on its own.
Speaking at the Congress convention in Jammu on August 31, Azad had said that the Congress has strong a support-base in Kishtwar, Ramban and Doda districts and it can also perform well in Udhampur and Reasi districts. As for the remaining five districts of Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri and Poonch, he had said that the Congress is not better placed, as it has to reckon with the BJP, the NC and the PDP.
Kishtwar, Ramban and Doda districts return only six members to the Assembly. Udhampur and Reasi districts return just five. As for as Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Poonch and Rajouri districts are concerned, they return to the Assembly as many as 27 members, with Jammu district alone returning to the Assembly a dozen members.
When Azad talked about regional parties like the NC and the PDP, he also meant that the Congress will have to work day and night in Kashmir region. In fact, he gave everyone in the convention to understand that things are very difficult for the Congress in Kashmir which returns 46 members to the Assembly. Right now, the Congress has three MLAs from Kashmir. As for Ladakh, it returns four members to the Assembly.
What Azad said was very significant and what he said clearly suggested that the Congress has failed to click in the state despite the fact that it has been in power at the centre and in the state for almost nine years. It was JKPCC general secretary and in-charge Jammu and Kashmir Congress Ambika Soni who put the things in a perspective when she said that the Congress was in power in the state for nine years but it had failed to implement its agenda because the Congress Ministers had functioned as constituency Ministers. In any case, things appear quite difficult for the Congress. |
