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| Congress divided over pre-poll alliance with NC ? | | | That the state unit of the Congress is di-
vided over the issue of having a pre-poll
alliance with the National Conference was reflected in the anger, displayed by some senior Congress leaders, over the presence and participation in a public rally at Nagrota, the other day. Three Congress leaders, including Madan Lal Sharma, MP, Abdul Majid Wani, Minister and Rani Bilowria, MLC, were conspicuous by their presence on the dais when the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, addressed a public rally. What is intriguing is the way Sharma and Wani too addressed the meeting. It is not yet clear whether other senior Congress leaders were invited to the rally. If they were invited why did not they turn up ? Did they opted for staying away from a NC sponsored public rally which actually turned to be almost a pre-poll campaign in favour of Devinder Singh Rana who is keen to contest the Nagrota Assemby seat. Were other senior Congress leaders sidelined or ignored by the NC leadership ?Did Madan Lal Sharma, Abdul Majid Wani and Rani Bilowria attend the public rally on their own to maintain cordial ties with NC leaders ? These questions need to be explained by the leadership of the state Congress. Well it is no longer a secret that a major section of senior Congress leaders of the state unit of the party are opposed to have pre-poll alliance with the National Conference on the plea that the pre-poll alliance could prove harmful to the Congress interests in the Jammu region, which is its traditional vote catching area. In fact this set of Congress leaders oppose pre-poll alliance with the NC as it would shut the doors for a possible post-poll alliance with the PDP.
And Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, utilized the Nagrota rally for berating the PDP and the BJP for dividing the people in the name of religion and region. Omar Abdullah, who addressed the rally, was also conscious of the presence of Congress leaders on the dais. This motivated him to castigate the BJP and the PDP saying that the "Congress and the NC will jointly defeat the communal and divisive forces in Jammu and Kashmir. He went on to shower praise on the UPA leadership for the "support it has extended to the state government in fulfilling the promises made with the people". While targeting opposition parties, PDP and BJP, Omar said, "It was NC and Congress which have been at the receiving end of the divisive and opportunistic politics". Congress MP and Minister, in their addresses, also admired Omar Abdullah for "leading the state towards a new path of development".
Only National Conference and Congress alliance is capable of carrying forward the development activities in Jammu and Kashmir, said Madan Lal Sharma. It seems that Sharma, Wani and Bilowria are following the policy being adopted by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi vis-à-vis the National Conference.The mother-son duo continue to be opposed to altering the five-year old political arrangement. But a section of the state unit Congress leaders want that the party be allowed to go alone in the battle of the ballot for the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections which could keep open the doors for alliance either the NC or with the PDP depending on their performance in the Assembly poll.
But the NC leadership is quite keen to retain its alliance with the Congress.It has two advantages for the Omar led National Conference.First, a pre-poll alliance with the Congress will make it easy for the NC to share power again after the end of the Assembly poll.Secondly,Omar believes that a pre-poll alliance,even if there is no electoral understanding or adjustment,with the Congress could make chances for the PDP to regain power totally bleak. The NC leadersip is of the opinion that with the birth of the PDP it has become impossible for the NC to win majority of Assembly seats needed for forming a Government without any support from the Congress.Also it believes that the Congress has emerged as a Government maker since it has option open to either align with the NC or with the PDP for forming the Government. In a bid to prevent the PDP from regaining power the NC leadership has started showering praises on the Congress led UPA Government simply to ensure that the NC was able to retain power. Hence the tussle between the NC and the PDP may assume new dimensions with the poll dates drawing near. And by hitting at the PDP and the BJP, making them faces of the same coin, the NC leadership is attacking its enemy number one, that is the PDP, and the BJP, which is the main political foe to the Congress. All this is being done to keep Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in good humour because the survival of the NC-Congress alliance banks on their support. |
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