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| Kitchloo's re-induction pushes Congress to the wall | | | Bashir Assad
Jammu, Dec23: Clean chit to Sajad Ahmad Kitchloo by Justice (Rtd) R C Gandhi Commission and his re-induction in the Council of Ministers has put the state unit of Congress in dock as it has nothing to sell to the people in Kishtwar.
The exoneration of Sajad Ahmad Kitchloo from the serious allegation leveled against him for Kishtwar riots has pushed the state unit of Congress to the wall and has disarmed it from the issue which the Congress party was likely to take credit of in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in Doda-Udhampur constituency.
The leaders from Congress feel that Kitchloo's re-induction into the Council of Ministers and his exoneration from all the charges over which Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah was forced to sack him, has put the state unit of congress in dock and has only rejuvenated the right wing BJP cadres who would exploit the issue to the disadvantage of the Congress party in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. However, the Congress leaders admit that Kitchloo's re-induction would also infuse new blood in NC workers in Kishtwar constituency in particular.
"Principally we are not against his re-induction as the one man RC Gandhi Commission has given him clean chit but at the same time BJP would exploit this issue to the disadvantage of Congress in the region and would try to further polarize the situation there which is not in the interest of the party", said a senior Congress leader on the conditions of not to be named.
Another Congress leader said that it would have been better to defer re-induction of Kitchloo for the time being after he was exonerated by the Gandhi commission. "They (NC) should have allowed the dust to settle first by deferring his (Kitchloo's) re-induction into the council of ministers", said the leader.
He said that it was quite disturbing that a former minister from the same region was not re-inducted by the congress party even after the CBI gave him clean chit in impersonation due to which the congress workers of the region feel demoralized but NC has re-inducted Kitchloo within hours of his exoneration.
Yet another congress leader from Jammu told Early Times that it was very unfortunate that all the decisions regarding the state congress party are taken in New-Delhi and the state leadership has no saying in the decision making process. "Ours is the most centralized party and all decisions viz-a-viz state congress unit are taken in New-Delhi which has really impacted the ground situation adversely", said the Congress leader.
However, a senior Jammu based journalist had a different take on the issue of re-induction of Kitchloo into the council of ministers. "It is a non-issue as for the Lok Sabha election to the Doda-Udhampur constituency are concerned which was evident from today's Jammu bandh call given by BJP", said the journalist adding that the two-day Jammu bandh call was totally ignored by the people despite the fact that BJP workers tried to enforce the shutdown in many areas of the Jammu city.
He said that there are bigger issues other than this which could have their impact on the coming Lok sabha elections.
Meanwhile, a PDP leader from Doda-Kishtwar opined that it would have certainly negative impact on National Conference itself. He said re-induction of Kitchloo into the council of ministers would be to the disadvantage of Kitchloo himself because he could not deliver. " The Election Commission of India will put into effect the Code of Conduct soon due to which Sajad could not even do anything for his workers what to speak of the voters", said the PDP leader.
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