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| NC wants Congress to field Azad from Kathua-Udhampur-Doda constituency | | Brazenly communal approach | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 19: Notwithstanding reports to the contrary, efforts are still on at the "highest level" to get a pre-poll alliance stitched between the NC and the Congress. Both the parties are "eager" to defeat the BJP and both the parties believe that "the BJP could be defeated only if they fielded common candidates both from the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha constituency and Kathua-Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha constituency".
However, it is the NC, which has been playing its cards in a manner that has created a piquant situation for the Congress, especially in Jammu. The NC has, on the one hand, made it absolutely clear that it would not leave even one out of the three seats in the Kashmir Valley, and, on the other, the NC chief Farooq Abdullah has announced the candidature of former Chief Secretary BR Kundal from the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha constituency. This announcement has not gone down well with the Congress cadres in Jammu for obvious reasons, including their belief that the Congress has "good chances in this constituency".
If the announcement that former Congress leader BR Kundal will be the NC candidate from the Jammu-Poonch has "angered" the local Congress leaders, including the Sharma brothers - Madan Lal Sharma and Sham Lal Sharma --, the suggestion of the NC that it should not field Karan Singh's son Vikramaditya from the Kathua-Udhampur-Doda constituency has further added to the confusion.
Top sources in the Congress said that "the NC wants the Congress to field Ghulam Nabi Azad from the Kathua-Udhampur-Doda constituency if it wanted the NC votes". Azad had also contested from this constituency in 2014 but had to suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of the BJP's green-horn in politics. Azad lost the election by a huge margin of over 60,000 votes.
In other words, the NC wants candidates of its own choice in Jammu province believing that the victory of Kundal in Jammu-Poonch constituency and Azad in Kathua-Udhampur-Doda constituency will help it "win a substantial number of seats in the assembly and consolidate its hold over the secretariat and the assembly".
The problem of the Congress is that it has already given Vikramaditya to understand that he is the party's candidate from the Kathua-Udhampur-Doda constituency. Vikramaditya has been touring this constituency and holding meetings with Congress workers for many days now.
Things would become clear in a day or two as the top leaders of both the Congress and the NC are in touch with each other. But one thing is clear: it's the NC which is playing all the shots and the Congress is at the receiving end. In the meantime, the PDP has raised its hands. It has reportedly offered "unconditional support to the Congress in Jammu province". |
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