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| Azad's re-election to RS major setback for BJP | | | Kunal Shrivatsa
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 8: The veteran Congress leader GhulamNabi Azad and leader of the opposition in RajyaSabha getting reelected to the upper house has proved to be a major setback for the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) which left no stone unturned to ensure his defeat.
Azad, who contested the poll against the third notification, accumulated 30 votes while BJP's Chander Mohan trailed with 28 votes.
The voting pattern for the seat which Azad managed to win clearly indicates that apart from 12 votes of his party and 15 votes of the National Conference (NC), the three independent Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) Hakim Yasin, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami and Engineer Rashid voted for him and paved way for his secure future at the most crucial juncture of his long political career.
Whereas the BJP nominee, Chander Mohan could get 25 votes of his party beside two votes of Sajjad Lone's People's Conference and one vote of independent MLA from Udhampur, Pawan Gupta.
The critically important victory for Azad was not a cakewalk as the BJP's central leadership tried every trick up its sleeve to ensure defeat for the old war horse of the Congress but despite all odds the 'master strategist' of the Congress managed to pull off a sensational victory which in the process gave a new lease of life to his political career.
Sources informed Early Times that Prime Minister's Office (PMO) kept a close tab of the political events leading to the RajyaSabha polls adding that Prime Minister NarendraModi personally monitored the party's negotiations and back channel talks with the independent MLAs by none other than BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav, however, the role or rather votes of three independent legislators proved to be a game changer for Azad.
"BJP did everything to make certain that Azad should not get re-elected to the Rajya Sabha but the saffron brigade failed in making its plan work as the party despite its hectic efforts did not win over the support of three independents from Kashmir region," sources said.
"BJP even pressed into service some senior bureaucrats and IPS officers to influence the independent MLAs but they could not pressurize the MLAs, who ultimately came to the rescue of Azad and supported him," they alleged.
Even GhulamNabi Azad had accused BJP of using official machinery for "coaxing, cajoling and coercing" the MLAs to seek their votes for the RajyaSabha elections in the state. "The way MLAs are being chased by the leaders of BJP has exposed its democratic credentials. The way a section of top officials of the State, especially senior IPS officers are being used to garner support for the BJP candidates in the forthcoming RajyaSabha elections is unprecedented and dangerous for the normal functioning of the democratic process in the State," Azad said.
He said such a tendency to manipulate and subvert the democratic process is illegitimate, undemocratic and unethical. "I know the officers, who are chasing the MLAs to seek support for the BJP and their names, will be forwarded to the Election Commission of India and the Governor," Azad said adding such brazen misuse of official machinery deserves denunciation. |
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