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| Cong High Command takes the decision | | Sonia, Manmohan won't beg of Mufti Sayeed | | NEW DELHI, MAR 19: The Congress supremo, Sonia Gandhi, and Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, are keen to see the continuance of working relationship between the two major players of the present coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir--Congress and People's Democratic Party (PDP). But both Congress supremo and Prime Minister are determined not to beg of the PDP's esprit de corps, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, to save the J&K government headed by Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Sharing this information with EARLY TIMES, a senior Ministerial source divulged on Monday that at a time when the Prime Minister himself had taken the initative to garner Mufti Sayeed's support to ensure the trouble-free survival of the Congress-led coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, both Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi expected the PDP leadership to show greater degree of flexibility.
Mufti Sayeed , who is expected to hold talks with the Prime Minister on Tuesday in response to the latter's invitation to him, is going to be told to avoid injecting unsavoury elements into the already disturbing situation in the State by raking up a few emotive issues in relation to the overall security of the border State and safety of its citizens at a time when the threat from militants and terrorists persists. The Congress High Command's decision not to beg of Mufti Sayeed became evident after the J&K Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, now camping in the Indian capital, has had separate meetings with the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi.
The Ministerial source said that Azad apprised both Prime Minister and Congress supremo of why the PDP leadership favoured creation of obstacles for the Congress-led government in J&K. According to the source, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh got convinced by Azad's narration of events culminating in the threat from the PDP to pull out of the present coalition government in the State.
More importantly, should the PDP eventually decide to separate itself from the existing arrangement led by Ghulam Nabi Azad, the J&K government will not collapse in view of the "unwritten agreement" between the National Conference (NC) and the J&K Congress. Indications are by no means uncertain that the National Conference will, for obvious stratregic reasons, lend "support from outside"to the Azad government. Significantly, this message has been conveyed to both Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi, who is chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliaance (UPA).
The NC is the single largest oppositon party in the J&K Assembly. Farooq Abdullah, who is the guiding force of the NC, has been for quite some time found pursuing, though secretly, "enemy's-enemy-is-my-friend" tactics. In plain language, Farooq Abdullah's "enemy" is Mufti Sayeed. And Ghulam Nabi Azad is considered by the Mufti as his "enemy". Hence, the strategic alliance between Farooq and Azad.
Equally important is the reported support from the Sonia-Manmohan Singh combine to Ghulam Nabi Azad's functioning as the Chief Minister. Azad's government had to keep in abeyance the transfers the two PDP Ministers in J&K had effected this month. Azad reportedly told both Prime Minister and Sonia that the J&K Cabinet had not approved these transfers.
Azad and Farooq Abdullah may differ with each other on several issues, but they seem united on one thing--that is, troops need not be withdrawn from Kashmir till restoration of complete peace and normalcy in the State. The PDP has been asking for withdrawal of troops from the Valley but its coalition partner in the State, Congress, has so far refused to give in. To press the demand, PDP Ministers in the alliance government headed by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad stayed from two successive Cabinet meetings since February 28.
PDP chief, Mehbooba Mufti, had met an array of Central leaders, including Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi, in Delhi recently articulating the party’s demands. However, Prime Minister in a letter turned down PDP’s demand contending that the situation in Jammu & Kashmir is still not yet conducive for that. A political crisis has gripped J&K over the PDP's demand for de-militarisation and revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
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