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| Jairam opposes Congress' support to AAP, talks about CMP | | Congress' different approach towards NC | | Rustam
JAMMU, Dec 26: Even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal is preparing to assume office of Chief Minister in Delhi on December 28, there is growing disquiet within the Congress over its decision to back an AAP Government. Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said the other day in Mumbai that the Congress was committing "political hara-kiri by propping up an AAP Government". Jairam Ramesh's view is reportedly shared by a section of the party leaders.
Reports emanating from New Delhi said efforts are being made to persuade AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi to have a rethink on the issue of extending support. A section of senior Congress leadership believes that the Congress' support to the AAP, which has been abusing and ridiculing the Congress leadership and behaving in a most irresponsible manner, will prove counter-productive for the party and says that the AAP leadership just cannot be trusted and there has to be some mechanism in place that could make the AAP leadership behave. Jairam Ramesh, in fact, said that if the Congress high command is committed to extending support to the AAP, it must ask the AAP to agree to a common minimum programme (CMP) and form coordination committee.
The suggestion of Jairam Ramesh that both the Congress and the AAP leadership must evolve some minimum programme before the AAP assumes power appears quite reasonable and needs to be considered. Where is the need for the Congress to extend unconditional support to the AAP? The AAP has only 28 members in the 70-member House and it cannot form Government without the support of the Congress, which has 8 members in the newly-elected Delhi Assembly.
However, the suggestion of Jairam Ramesh raises another import question. The case in point is the unconditional support of the Congress to the pro-autonomy, Kashmir-centric and essentially communal National Conference (NC). Jairam Ramesh and others of his ilk, who want the Congress high command to work out some CMP with the AAP should have taken a similar line in January 2009, when the Congress high command and the NC leadership were forging a post-poll alliance to grab political power in the state. They should have told the Congress high command on its face that it had worked out a CMP with the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Panthers Party (JKNPP) and the CPI-M in 2002 and should have asked it why did it give a freehand to Omar Abdullah, who was known for his regressive ideology and anti-Jammu bias.
That Jairam Ramesh and similar other leaders in the Congress did not talk about CMP in 2009 and that they today talk about the need to work out a CMP with the AAP clearly suggest that when it comes to Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress applies a different yardstick. And it is this approach that has created problem after problem in the Kashmir valley, resulted in the neglect of the people of Jammu and Ladakh and harmed the long-term national interest in the state. The Congress needs to refashion its whole approach to the Kashmir valley failing which it would suffer more political losses, especially in Jammu province. |
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