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| NC-Congress coalition unlikely to have a CMP | | | EARLY TIMES
Jammu, Feb 23: A week from today it will be almost two months since the National Conference and the Congress entered into a alliance but they are yet to come up with a Common Minimum Program of Governance. Given the intricacies of Jammu and Kashmir politics, its repercussions for rest of country, and the complex stands of both parties, political observers believe that the NC-Congress coalition would rather prefer to pull through the working arrangement instead of declaring any shared agenda for Jammu and Kashmir.
National Conference and Congress are a post poll alliance and they contested elections on their own planks. Long before the elections it was almost certain for peoples and as well as the parties that no single party is expected to get full mandate to form the government at its own. It was an interesting triangle suggesting two of the three parties –National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and the Congress –will have to join hands to form the government. Since the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party are the bitter regional rivals and an alliance between them would have been nothing less than George Bush and Osama bin Laden launching a joint war against terrorism, the Congress obviously held the key to the government. Till the last phase of seven phased polling on December 24, there was not even an iota of idea as which way the Congress would like to go.
The Congress decided on December 30 to join hands with National Conference and a sleek and compact Omar Abdullah government was sworn in on January 5 in a star studded glittering oath ceremony. The swearing in of the Chief Minister and the nine Ministers –five from Congress and four from National Conference –was indeed a ceremonial beginning giving representation to all regions and communities till full formation of ministry took place. It was only four days later that the Chief Minister and his ministerial colleagues moved in their Civil Secretariat offices. The Chief Minister had indicated in first week of January that his ministry will soon be expanded. Not only that expansion of ministry has been delayed but also there is no meeting between leadership of Congress and National Conference yet to ink a fine print of their partnership.
The beauty of the coalition is that it took them just 48 hours after results were declared to decide on joining hands with each other. No conditions were put from any side, not even rotation of the Chief Minister’s chair between partners. The potential drawback, however, is that the government does not have any declared political program while the individual parties have their own. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been trying to project the image of his government as a regime which is sensitive to the peoples’ problems and is committed to resolving them. Yes, people need such a dispensation but Jammu and Kashmir is not a state which can afford a government for long which is apolitical in nature. There has to be a well declared political program to take the peoples along. Besides issues of governance, which are common to all societies, Jammu and Kashmir has a major political issue which needs constant attention and engagement for making a forward movement as every day counts.
The ruling coalition is yet to arrive at a Common Minimum Program outlining the mutually shared priorities of the National Conference and the Congress on a wide array of issues including political process and governance. There has not been any meeting between leaders of the coalition partners on the issue. “The only thing decided between Congress and the National Conference is that there will be a government of National Conference and the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir headed by me…there is nothing more than that and nothing less than that”, said Omar Abdullah after meeting Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The second formal meeting is yet to take place.
Why Congress and National Conference have not been able to come out with a Common Minimum Program is bit understandable given the present political atmosphere. It appears primarily due to compulsions of the Congress which preferred NC over PDP (erstwhile partner) in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the country. When India goes to polls in next few months terrorism, and separatist movement in Kashmir will be the two major issues where Congress will have to balance out an aggressive campaign of its ace rival at national level –the Bhartiya Janta Party and its ragtag allies. Facing elections in India with PDP as partner in Kashmir could have been disastrous for the Congress, particularly in aftermath of Amarnath land row and after the unveiling of the self-rule proposal. National Conference too has a well declared political agenda for Kashmir but its compromising nature gives Congress enough room for its own sweet talk on Kashmir.
Common Minimum Programmes of the partners in the ruling coalitions are inked well before the governments are sworn in but in this case, observers believe, it may take far longer than expected. Congress and the National Conference have their own manifestos and programmes for Jammu and Kashmir. A look at both documents shows many points of agreement but there are still many points of disagreement. When a Common Minimum Programme is shaped up both partners will have to give in some points to each other’s political constituency. For example, Greater Autonomy is the soul of National Conference and the party would press for its inclusion in the CMP. Autonomy being part of CMP means nationwide disaster for the Congress and its exclusion means end of the journey of National Conference as a representative political party in Jammu and Kashmir. While this issue has far reaching repercussions but immediate effects can be seen in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, at least on six seats of Jammu and Kashmir.
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