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| Groupism galore in Jammu Kashmir Congress | | |
JAMMU | JUNE 27
As in charge party affairs in Jammu and Kashmir, when M M Jacob, reaches Srinagar he would be confronted with an unreported factionalism in the state unit of the Congress. Besides deciding whether Peerzada Mohd Syed will continue to be the PCC Chief or introduce one-man one post formula, Jacob will try to bring about reconciliation among senior congress leaders.
Both in the Kashmir valley and in the Jammu region each senior party leader has a lobby within the congress party. While Abdul Gani Vakil, vice president PCC, is the lone congress leader who has managed to organize series of public meeting and workers conferences in several areas of the valley, Taj Mohiuddin, Peerzada Mohd. Syeed and the Union Minister for water Resources, Prof. Saifuddin Soz have built separate groups within the organization. Ghulam Rasool Kar, senior most party leader and MLC, is a disillusioned leader whose physical infirmity has forced him to lie low. The case is similar to GA Mir, a former Minister, who had emerged as a dynamic young leader but his alleged involvement in the sex scam left him with no other alternative but to keep a low profile.
Except on one occasion Prof. Soz and Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, were seen sharing the same dais during public meeting in Baramulla district and at a seminar in Srinagar. The two maintain an icy cool relation. The entire responsibility for keeping the congress flag flying in Kashmir has fallen on the shoulders of the Chief Minister, notwithstanding the fact that senior party men, including ministers and legislators blamed him for his failure to take them into confidence.
In the Jammu region Mangat Ram Sharma is no longer surrounded by a big group of party legislators and ministers. Party sources said that Sharma was a more powerful minister when Mufti Sayeed headed the Government. Soon after Azad took over Sharma lost that political shine which he enjoyed till two years ago. Hence senior party men no longer look up to him for consolidating the organization in the Jammu region.
Two party stalwarts, Lal Singh and Madan Lal Sharma, both MPs, are seen one day closer to Azad the other day miles away from the Chief Minister. Raman Bhalla has preferred to work in his Gandhi Nagar Assembly constituency to being a member of one group or the other. No doubt his good work and performance as a legislator has been ignored by the bigwigs in the Congress he continues to work for the survival of the Congress not only in Gandhi Nagar constituency but in other areas also. Even as PWD Minister G SCharak has not been able to carve out areas of influence for him in the Jammu region. Instead he has won more critics within the party and public circles as he has been seen riding rough shod on the basis of the support he has been enjoying from Ghulam Nabi Azad and Arjun Singh, union Minister for Human Resources.
Party sources said that though Abdul Gani Vakil was doing a fine job in keeping the flock of congress supporters in Kashmir together he may not be able to turn the tide in favour of the party in the Kashmir valley because he is considered a junior leader.
The Congress sources admit that in the next election the party may not be able to repeat its 2002 Assembly poll performance when it bagged 20 Assembly seats, five in the Kashmir valley and 15 in the Jammu region if the organizational set up was not changed and Azad was not told in specific terms to take party MLAs into confidence while taking some decisions. The only saving factor for the Congress in the next poll could be that shaky BJP may not be able to cause a major dent to the Congress strength in the Jammu region.
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