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| Azad's Master stroke | | PDP gets lion's share from reorganisation of districts | | Srinagar, July 7 :- The PDP, which shares power with the Congress, has taken a major share from the cake which the Chief Minister offered to the people by way of creating eight new districts, four in the Jammu region and four in the Kashmir valley.
Judged on the performance of the PDP in 2002 Assembly elections in Anantnag and Pulwama districts ,out of 16 seats the PDP had won 10 against two by the congress and two by the NC,the party led by Ms Mehbooba Mufti has succeeded in getting a lion's share as two more districts in Anantnag and Pulwama belt.
One does believe that the PDP had put forth the demand for a major share in the new district creation work. The reason is that had not the congress leadership succumbed to the pressure exerted by the PDP it would not have okayed the creation of two districts,one of Kulgam and the other being Shopian. The distance between Shopian and Kulgam is about 30 kms. And now the south kashmir belt,considered to be the main base of the PDP, has now four districts against three in Baramulla and Kupwara districts.
Again the decision of the congress led Government to have Ganderbal,16 kms from Srinagar,as the headquarters of the new district was also aimed at buttressing the leadership of a senior PDP leader,Qazi Mohd.Afzal who had defeated the National Conference President in 2002 Assembly poll.Kangan should have been selected as the headquarters of the new district because the farflung Sonamarg and its adjoining areas fall in the new district where these far-flung areas are far away from Ganderbal than they could have been from Kangan.
At the same time the Congress could be the beneficiary of the decision on creation of eight new districts in the state. The demand for implementation of the Wazir committee report had surfaced soon after the PDP-Congress coalition formed the Government in the state on November 2,2002.The BJP had been in the forefront of those demanding the committee's implementation.
However, during the three years Mufti Mohd.Sayeed remain the Chief Minister he did not evince any interest in the creation of new districts.He would argue,on the floor of the House or outside,that because of administrative and financial problems the creation of new districts could not be taken in hand.
He had not received the backing from the centre whenever he had broached the issue of carving out new districts. But Chief Minister, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, succeeded where the Mufti failed and within less than nine months Mr Azad got the green signal from the Government of India for creation of new districts.
During the budget session of the Assembly in March-April the Chief Minister ,while referring to the Wazir committee report,had stated that the Government was considering to go beyond the Wazir committee recommendations. And he has kept his promise because Wazir committee had recommended the creation of four districts, one in Kashmir and three in Jammu.The Chief Minister has implemented the Wazir Committee recommendations in toto by creating Samba,Kishtwar and Reasi as the new districts.
The addition of Ramban district was simply to improve administrative functioning in otherwise unwieldy district of Doda
Political observers treat it as a master stroke of the Chief Minister. His decision to add eight new districts is likely to help the Congress in salvaging its position in the Jammu region and in some pockets of the Kashmir valley.
Adding four more districts in the Jammu region has taken the wind out of the sail of the BJP. And on Friday the BJP leadership was confused when it decided to react to the cabinet decision. One section of the leadership wanted to favour the Government decision and the other section,opposing it for the sake of opposition,has demanded setting up five more districts in the Jammu region.
Another decision that can help the congress was the decision of the Government to set up the Delimitation Commission with clear cut guidance that 25 seats be increased.
Besides this Mr Azad's master stroke has the potential of narraowing down the chasm between the congress and the PDP.No wonder that supporters of the ruling coalition,whether in Shopian,or in Kulgam or in Ganderbal or in Samba or in Ramban or in Kishtwar and Reasi indulged in revelries after illuminating their villages. |
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