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| Azad as CM candidate | | Prospects of Congress in Jammu province | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jul 5: The J&K Congress Wednesday at Srinagar unanimously passed a resolution to project Azad as the party's candidate for the next elections. Currently, Azad is the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha. Azad opposed any kind of truck with the now out-of-power PDP and Mehbooba Mufti, saying any alliance with them would be counter-productive. He took this stand when some Congress leaders demanded that the Congress must keep open the issue and "prevent the BJP from cobbling up a coalition in the state by engineering defections in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)".
Not only Azad, but a dominant section strongly opposed the idea of forming coalition government with any political party at this point in time and insisted that the "party should demand fresh elections so that people are given a chance to elect a popular government". This was disclosed by a senior Congress leader who was present in the two-day marathon meeting in Srinagar, which was, among others, attended by Azad, Ambika Soni, Saif-Ud-Din Soz and GA Mir.
Now that the Congress has opened its cards, it would be only appropriate to assess if the Congress under the leadership of Azad could retrieve the ground it lost over the period. It's a fact that Azad is considered a big leader in J&K. But it is also a fact that the Congress never faired well in Jammu, like Kashmir, under his leadership.
In 2002, the Congress tested political waters in the state under his leadership. The Congress could win only 18 seats, 15 in Jammu and 3 in Kashmir. In Ladakh, the Congress drew a blank.
Similarly, the Congress didn't fair well in the 2008 assembly polls. The Congress had again fought the elections under the leadership of Azad. The Congress won 13 seats in Jammu, two in Ladakh and three inKashmir.
And, in 2014, the high commanded fielded him in the Kathua-Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha constituency and he lost the election miserably to a greenhorn in politics, the candidate who joined the BJP only in 2008. In the Assembly elections also, the Congress failed to put up a good show. It could win only 5 seats in Jammu, 4 in Kashmir and three in Ladakh - total 12 seats.
Much water has flown down the Tawi river since 2014. It would be difficult to say if the Congress would be able to replicate even 2014 in Jammu when elections to the assembly are held. The people of Jammu have not forgotten that it was Azad government (Nov 2005-July 2008) which subverted the Wazir Commission Report by creating 8 new districts, four each Jammu and Kashmir region (Wazir Commission had recommended three for Jammu and one for Kashmir), toyed with the idea of giving more representation to Kashmir in the assembly through is 25 per cent-increase formula, rejected incorporation of words secularism and socialism in the preamble of the constitution, rejected demand for a fresh delimitation and citizenship rights to refugees from Pakistan and so on and so forth. The memories of what his government did are still too fresh to be forgotten. |
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