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| Omar questions Rahul's leadership, Farooq defends him | | Fall of the Congress | | Rustam
JAMMU, Dec 10: The massive defeat of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi and a spectacular victory of the BJP in all these four states, including the two Congress-ruled states of Delhi and Rajasthan, has evoked a contradictory response from National Conference working president and Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and party president and Union Minister Farooq Abdullah. On December 8, when the poll results were announced, Omar Abdullah virtually questioned the leadership qualities of AICC vice president, Sonia Gandhi's privilege son and the Congress's undeclared Prime Ministerial candidate Rahul Gandhi and said that the "poorly attended ones (in this case election rallies) definitely indicate big trouble". He in a way held Rahul Gandhi responsible for the humiliating defeat of the Congress.
It was obvious that Omar Abdullah referred to the poorly-attended rallies like the two in Ambedkar Nagar and Mangolpuri in Delhi and Jodhpur in Rajasthan, which were addressed by Rahul Gandhi. That these rallies were not only poorly attended but those who had gathered there also walked out of these venues the moment Rahul Gandhi stood up to address them is not a secret. Similarly, it is also not a secret that while in Delhi Sheila Dikshit appealed the small audience to stay put for sometime to listen to Rahul, in Jodhpur Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also had to make similar appeals to the gathering, but with no result. On all these three occasions, Rahul Gandhi had to cut short his speeches and leave the venues in a huff as a broken-hearted and demoralized person.
Interestingly, on Monday, Farooq Abdullah and National Conference MP Mehboob Beg took a line which was completely different from that Omar Abdullah. Both Farooq Abdullah and Mehboob Beg defended Rahul Gandhi to the hilt and tried to suggest that Rahul Gandhi was not responsible for the defeat of the Congress party. Both the National Conference leaders took this line at a time when Shard Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party had created an awkward situation for Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi saying it was the weak leadership that was responsible for the Congress's debacle in the assembly elections.
What is it that Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah doing? They are the two owners of the National Conference. They needs to speak in one voice to avoid the impression that they are treading different paths as per a strategy evolved to keep their options open. |
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