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| PDP unlikely to oblige desperate Congress | | Struggling for survival | | Neha
JAMMU, June 29 : The Congress party, which suffered a massive defeat in the Lok Sabha election in Jammu & Kashmir, doesn't want to keep any kind of truck with the NC that has been leading the government since January 2009.
The reason is that its leadership feels that the Congress identification with the NC in any form will further spoil its electoral chances, particularly in Jammu province and Ladakh region where bulk of people opposes politics of autonomy and separation and longs for a system that promotes mainstream politics in the State. "Left to the Congress leadership, it would want to snap all ties with the NC sooner than later and forge a pre-poll alliance with the PDP, which is on a strong political wicket in the Valley," said sources in the Congress. In fact, insiders inform that certain elements in the Congress are in touch with the PDP leadership and they are persuading the senior leadership of the PDP to forge pre-poll alliance with the Congress. Sources also inform that former Union Minister and former J&K CM and JKPCC president Ghulam Nabi Azad, who also got decimated in the Lok Sabha election and whose term in the Rajya Sabha would be over in next few months, is more particular for pre-poll alliance with the PDP.
"Azad wants to ensure that he gets and wins Rajya Sabha seat from Jammu & Kashmir and this is possible only if there is pre-poll alliance with the PDP," said credible sources in the Congress, adding that "he feels that no pre-poll alliance with the PDP will help the BJP in Jammu province, including the erstwhile Doda district and Rajouri district". In this connection, they cite the recent meeting of Azad with patron of PDP and party's Chief Ministerial candidate Mufti Mohammad Sayeed at his Srinagar's official residence.
It was on June 21 that Azad visited the Mufti's Gupkar residence and reportedly discussed the possibility of any pre-poll alliance with the PDP for the upcoming Assembly elections. This was the first one-on-one meeting between the two after June 2008. It was then reported that Azad's suggestion did not evoke a favourable response from the Mufti.
"In the present situation we are not mulling any pre-poll alliance with any party," Mufti was quoted as saying. "His party would assess the situation once the Assembly polls are over and take a decision accordingly," he also reportedly told Azad. Two days ago, PDP's ideologue and MP from Baramulla and former Deputy Chief Minister Muzzaffar Hussain Beig also made a similar statement and added that the PDP could forge post-poll alliance with the Congress if his party failed to secure an absolute majority in the Assembly elections. The fact of the matter is that Azad came out of the Mufti's residence empty-handed. However, sources reveal that the "Congress has not given up" and that "efforts to convince the PDP leadership for pre-poll alliance are still on at various levels". It is extremely doubtful if the PDP leadership would oblige the Congress at this point in time, as it believes that it could win the required number of seats in the Assembly on its own. And it is this firmness of the PDP leadership that is keeping leaders like Azad awake in the night. |
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