news details |
|
|
| PDP to seek Azad's replacement or pull out of Govt | | Mufti likely to meet PM, Sonia after final deliberations with partymen | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Oct 17
If this time it is not construed as a pressure tactic on an uncompromising Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Peoples Democratic Party appears to have reached a stage of taking final decision on pulling out of the coalition government.
In follow up to the meeting one held today under the chairmanship of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in Srinagar, sources said that the former chief minister and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti, are likely to hold a meeting with senior party colleagues later this week or early next week to take a final decision on whether to continue in the coalition or end the relationship. PDP sources say that the party leadership had almost lost patience over what it regards as Congress chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's failure to stick to the "coalition dharma."
It is also possible that they might demand Azad's replacement with an "equitable and unwavering" person from within the Congress as chief minister as a condition for the PDP to continue in the coalition, the sources said. Once a broad consensus on this had been reached within the PDP, Mufti is expected to seek a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He is also likely to apprise Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the situation in the state, the sources added.
The Congress high command, and Mrs Sonia Gandhi in particular, is, however, extremely keen to ensure that the alliance between the two parties continues, not only till the Assembly elections due late next year and the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, but beyond. The central Congress leaders have indicated that they would do all they can to resolve the issues which are causing a confrontation between the partners.
The relationship between the Congress and the PDP had started turning bitter soon after the former took the driver's seat and Mr Azad replaced Mr Sayeed as chief minister to honour the power-sharing agreement the two sides had reached after winning the Assembly election. The washing of dirty linen in public, however, resumed in a major way last month when the chief minister divested housing and urban development minister Qazi Muhammad Afzal of his important forest and environment portfolio amid reports of bungling, embezzlement and nepotism in the State Forest Corporation.
Mr Afzal, who is a senior PDP leader, chose to quit but the chief minister refused to accept his resignation. The two sides then began to exchange letters trying to lay blame on each other for the bitterness in their relationship. In fact, the move triggered a showdown between the coalition partners. Last week Mr Azad, in a letter to the PDP patron, sought his help in resolving the crisis over the resignation of Mr Afzal. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
