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| The Rise of the Rebel | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Feb 13
Hailing from Sopore in Baramulla district, the 70 years old Soz, had a dramatic rise in politics.
A well learned educationist, Soz joined the National Conference after spending a long stint in the government services. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1983 and was re-elected to eighth Lok Sabha in 1984 and remained a Member of Parliament till 1989. In 1989 he was again elected to the Lok Sabha from Baramulla Kupwara constituency of North Kashmir.
When National Conference returned to power in the state in 1996, the December same year Soz was send to the Parliament as member of Rajya Sabha. He was inducted as a Minister for Environment and Forests in the Inder Kumar Gujral government in 1997 and remained a Minister till March 1998.
After fall of Gujral government in 1998, the country went to general elections and Soz sought mandate from Baramulla-Kupwara constituency. At that time the National Conference was in absolute majority in the state and had a sweeping grip on the politics. Soz won with a comfortable margin and returned to the Lok Sabha.
Following these elections, the Atal Behari Vajpayee government took over at the Center. This time he did not get an opportunity to become a Minister as the National Conference was initially supporting the Vajpayee government from outside.
In April 1999, the Vajpayee government came under a severe floor test in the Lok Sabha. The government was confident of winning the vote as calculations were perfect. However, violating the party whip, Prof Soz abstained from voting thus resulting into fall of the Vajpayee government –a deep embarrassment for the National Conference.
The country went to elections again later same year. By that time the National Conference had expelled Soz from the party. He contested elections from Baramulla-Kupwara constituency as an independent candidate and suffered a humiliating defeat. The votes he polled were so insignificant that he could not even save his security deposits.
After a transitory hibernation for few years, Soz was duly rehabilitated and honoured by the Congress. In 2002, when the Congress in alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party came to power in Jammu and Kashmir, Soz was awarded a Rajya Sabha seat from J&K quota.
Later, a year after Congress came to power in Delhi, Soz was inducted as a Member of the Central Working Committee and then a Minister in the Manmohan Singh cabinet in 2006. |
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