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| Cong, PDP come closer; thanks resolution | | Baig to make comeback, Dilawar likely to get Forest, Qazi PHE | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Dec 1
Former deputy chief minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig is likely to return to the Jammu and Kashmir government, political sources said Saturday.
This follows reconciliation between two main partners of the ruling coalition - the Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) -- after months of acrimony.
The differences were sparked over various issues, including a PDP demand for troops cut in the Kashmir Valley.
The PDP accused Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad of not providing good governance and had even threatened to pull out of the government.
According to sources close to Azad and PDP, the parties have patched up.
As a first step, the chief minister sent a letter Thursday to his predecessor and PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed urging him to nominate his party members for induction into the council of ministers.
Azad is likely to expand and reshuffle his ministry in the next few days. The PDP has a seat vacant in its quota.
'As far as appointing a (PDP) nominee (for the ministerial berth) is concerned, that is more or less settled,' said a senior PDP leader.
PDP, according to the sources, has decided that Baig will be its nominee for a cabinet berth. Baig was the finance and planning minister in the PDP-Congress coalition from November 2002 to November 2005 when the PDP handed over reins to the Congress.
After Azad took over from Mufti, Baig was made the deputy chief minister but was stripped of the post in August 2006
Meanwhile, sources revealed that a recent resolution passed by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) deciding to continue its alliance with PDP is forcing the ruling alliance to sort out its differences so as to pave a way for a pre-poll alliance for the up-coming assembly elections.
Sources in the power corridors revealed that the senior leadership of Congress and PDP has decided to shun their hard postures so as to create atmosphere for a long lasting alliance. Most of the issues – which recently created fissures within the coalition – are being sorted out at the party level, they said.
While PDP has given up its stand over the issue of Qazi Muhammad Afzal, sources said Congress has assured to respond positively. "If all goes well the prestigious forest portfolio is likely to be given to Dilawar Mir, and Qazi Muhammad Afzal would be `honoured' with the portfolio of PHE", a senior PDP leader told NAK, on the condition of anonymity.
Though the PDP has almost cleared the name of Baig as its nominee for the expansion, uncertainties prevail in Congress camp. "Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has kept all cards close to his chest.
However, sources added- the issue of Muhammad Rafi Mir, whose nomination as PDP MLC, was turned down by the by the governor was being discussed.
Sources close to Azad told NAK he was sincerely trying to sort out the differences within the coalition especially in the backdrop of recent resolution passed by AICC deciding to continue the present tie-up with the PDP.
The resolution passed at the recent AICC session observed that the Congress-PDP coalition in J&K has imparted a new momentum to development and governance in the state over past five years and, to a large extent, this has been the result of the keen personal interest the Congress president and the prime minister have taken to fulfil the aspirations of our brethren in J&K.
"The AICC believes that the conditions and concerns — inside and outside the state of Jammu and Kashmir — that prompted this coalition continue to remain relevant. The AICC calls upon progressive and nationalist forces to rally around the coalition".
Sources said that the cabinet expansion would be first signal of smoothening coalition relations in the state. |
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