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| Dissensions galore in mainstream political parties | | | Early Times special correspondent
Jammu | May 11
Factionalism looks menacingly at the face of mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir. The leadership of the Congress, the PDP, the National Conference and the BJP is genuinely worried over groupism in these organisations because of the ensuing Assembly election.
During the period Peerzada Mohd.Syed was the PCC Chief the state unit of the Congress witnessed under currents of groupism but it did not surface because Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad dominated the show. Senior congressmen vied with one another in exhibiting their loyalty to him. However, after the resignation of Peerzada Mohd.Syed from the seat of PCC Presidentship, following allegations of corruption leveled against him by none other than an independent MLA Shoaib Lone, factional feuds surfaced. And the appointment of union Water Resources Minister, Prof. Saif-ud-Din Soz, as PCC President threw up another power centre in the state unit of the Congress. Prof.Soz is not as docile as Peerzada Mohd.Syed seemed to be. The new PCC Chief is dynamic and within a couple of weeks he infused some semblance of vigour in the organisation. And those congressmen, belonging to the Jammu region, who were initially unhappy with the choice of the party high command on the ground that Soz belonged to the valley, started evincing loyalty to him. At one stage even the Congress MP, Madan Lal Sharma, besides several legislators from the Jammu region, cast their lot with Soz.
Apart from groupism in the party's upper hierarchy one finds factions at the lower level. The Health Minister,Mangat Ram Sharma, has his group of followers. Taj Mohiuddon, consumer Affairs Minister, heads another group while the dynamic Abdul
Gani Vakil has his separate lobby within the Congress. The senior most Congress leader, Ghulam Rasool Kar, is seen shuttling his loyalty from the chief Minister to Prof. Soz. Outwardly he is with everybody but inwardly he is with himself. In the Jammu region the tie for supremacy is between Madan Lal Sharma and Mangat Ram Sharma. Madan Lal Sharma's anger against some party leaders crossed limits and he reportedly accused Assembly speaker, Tara Chand, and former Education Minister, Peerzada Mohd.Syed of their alleged involvement in the infamous Srinagar sex scam. Prof. Soz immediately took cognisance of Madan Lal's attitude and served him a show cause notice for
explaining his position. Soz had to act because among several congress leaders Peerzada Mohd.Syed has been very loyal to him. It was the Peerzada who had suggested to the AICC Chief, Sonia Gandhi, that Soz could prove a suitable person to head the PCC. The tiff between Tara Chand and Madan Lal seems to have added new dimensions to the factional feuds in the Congress.
The PDP leadership had been disturbed by the activities of Ghulam Hassan Mir,a former Minister and a sitting MLA,As the PDP patron Mufti Mohd.Sayeed and his daughter,Ms Mehbooba Mufti,who heads the PDP,found that Mir was building a rebel group within the organisation he was expelled. Mir took away with him one MLA, Sarfaraz Khan. One general secretary of the PDP,Sonnaullah Dar, who had initially supported Mir later crossed over to the National Conference. Another PDP leader, Javed Ahmed Dar, quit the PDP and joined the National Conference. But expelling Mir has not freed the PDP from dissidence. Though the general secretary of the PDP, Nizam-ud-Din Bhat,says that those who joined Mir,including G.M.Bhawan,Sarfaraz Khan and others,are "politically redundent"yet the alarm bells have started ringing in the face of PDP leadership.A
number of PDP leaders,including some legislators,are not happy with the style of functioning of the Muftis and the members of what is called the kitchen cabinet. Right from the day Omar Abdullah tok over as National Conference President the 70-year old
organisation is under the control of dual leadership,that of Dr Farooq Abdullah and his
son.Majority of senior party leaders,including several sitting MLAs continue to demonstrate their loyalty to Dr Abdullah.Some of these senior leaders have worked
with the legendary Sheikh Abdullah as members of the council of ministers headed by him.This lot feels uncomfortable with Omar Abdullah whom they treat as good as their son.It is not only the age factor.Omar is a hard task master and unlike his father he says
what he means. Consequently, it is pro-Farooq and pro-Omar groups within the organisation. While Omar Abdullah is a straightforward person and is against motivating one group within the organisation to take up cudgels with another,Dr Farooq believes in divide and rule policy.That is the reason for the father supporting Tom against Dick.
The state unit of the BJP has never been free from groupism during the last several years.At one stage Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta,who headed the organisation for several years,had kept rank and file in the BJP together despite the fact that he had been
instrumental in getting several senior party leaders sidelined.After the change of guard in the BJP several years ago the organisation has been plagued by factional feuds.It was during Prof. Gupta's stint as party's president that the relations between the RSS and the BJP had remained smooth.With tension rising between the RSS and the BJP the former floated State Morcha which fielded its candidates in 12 constituencies in the Jammu region which rocked the BJP boat in 2002 poll allowing it to win only one seat.It was after the end of the tenure of Prof. Gupta that a number of senior party leaders,including its vice president,Chander Mohan Sharma,were expelled from the BJP.Chander Mohan Sharma did not wait for an opportunity for rejoining the parent organisation.He
floated a separate organisation by reviving Praja Parishad.He was so much disillusioned with the BJP leadership in the state that efforts made by Arun Jaitley and others for wooing him back to the BJP did not materialise.Of late dynaism in Party Chief,Ashok
Khajuria,has not helped him to keep dissensions under check.Vicepresident Hari Om had quit the party at one stage.He is back after he was persuaded by the party high command.He and Dr Nirmal Singh,,a former BJP President,reports reveal,,are not taken into confidence by Khajuria.
The result of dissensions is that the BJP has emerged as a party that banks on issuance of press releases and on holding press conferences.These two activities may not help the saffron brigade in strengthening its bases in the Jammu region. Soon after her historic victory in Uattar Pradesh Mayawati has not not been able to distinguish between
genuine BSP leaders and the paper tigers.It was not her fault because she left the task of reorganizing the BSP in Jammu and Kashmir to some of his trusted colleagues. Her colleagues,especially the party general secretary Narender Kashyap,is said to have
bungled.The result was that one Dr Sat Pal,was expelled from the party.Sat Pal was one among a few founder members of the BSP in Jammu.It was he who infused life in the organisation at a time when the majority of Dalits used to support and vote for the
Congress.After his expulsion Sat Pal floated National Bahujan Party thereby dlluting the chances for the BSP to emerge as a political force to reckon with. The only other mainstream political party that merits attention is the Panthers Party,headed by Prof.
Bhim Singh.Prof. Singh is known for his volatile attitude which resulted in the estrangement of his nephew,Harsh Dev Singh,a former Education Minister.If Panthers Party is know as Bhim Singh's organization the contribution of Harsh Dev Singh in nursing the organisation cannot be under estimated. The Panthers Party, at one stage, experienced an undeclared vertical split. Out of four MLAs two supported Bhim Siungh and the remaining two were with Harsh Dev Singh. The uncle and the nephew have patched up their differences. It is almost a union of convenience and not of heart. If the ensuing election throws up a hung Assembly it will be the result of these dissensions within the mainstream political organisations. |
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