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| Coordination panel to decide LS seat sharing | | Congress choice hangs between kinship and proximity to Azad | | Bhaderwah NGOs rally behind IAS officer
ZAFAR CHOUDHARY
Jammu, March 16: Congress high command is though yet to initiate process for selecting its nominee for Bhaderwah Assembly constituency but a senior bureaucrat is not averse to taking a political plunge at safe seat vacated by Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Meanwhile, the ruling coalition partners, the National Conference and the Congress is yet to arrive at a seat sharing pact for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as the minor partner is mounting pressure to get away with a major share.
Three assembly segment –Sonawar and Hazratbal in Srinagar and Bhaderwah in Jammu –that had fallen vacant, following election of Dr Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad to Rajya Sabha, have been listed for by-elections. On a natural seat sharing pact based on nature of people who vacates seats, Sonawar and Hazratbal will be contested by the National Conference and Bhaderwah by Congress. The two segments in Srinagar are going to polls on April 23 and Bhaderwah seat on May 7.
While the National Conference is learnt to have zeroed in on the names of former Police officer and leading public intellectual Ali Mohammad Wattali for Sonawar and Dr Mustafa Kamal for Hazratbal, the Congress is yet to decide its Bhaderwah choice where three potential aspirants are banking on their kinship with and proximity to AICC General Secretary and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Azad’s two close relatives Ghulam Mustafa Azad and Javed Azad are vying for a chance to contest election from Bhaderwah while a senior serving bureaucrat is also in the fray. IAS officer and Commissioner-Secretary of the Works Department Mehboob Iqbal’s name is strong taking rounds in the Congress circles as party’s possible choice for Bhaderwah. Early Times was first to report about such a possibility and now this proposal is gaining further grounds.
However, when contacted, Mehboob Iqbal told Early Times that he is yet to be reached by the Congress, or for that matter any one and it was too early to confirm anything at this stage. The officer though did not confirm such a possibility but nevertheless he had nothing to deny about this. “I will be able to say something only when I am formally reached out by someone (Congress)”, Mehboob told us from New Delhi where he is currently camping.
Mehboob is considered close to the former Chief Minister and the re-emerged Congress strongman Ghulam Nabi Azad. When asked to comment on the talk in Congress circles about his nomination, the IAS officer quipped, “It is for Azad Saheb to take a call on this”.
Interestingly, a local organization from Bhaderwah today made a strong plea for Mehboob’s candidature but the IAS officer said that the statement was not with his concurrence. He said, “I am here in Delhi for last two days in connection with the Plan meeting (with Planning Commission) and am not aware of any such statement”.
An organization called Bhallesa Development Council along with some other non-governmental organizations of Bhaderwah assembly constituency has appealed Congress Party to consider the name of Mehboob for party ticket from this constituency. In a written statement to the press, the organization has threatened that if the party refused ticket to their candidate, they will campaign against the party in the area and the campaign will be started from the home village of former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
In a statement issued here, Bhallesa Development Council president Javed Ahmed said that they have convened a meeting of other non-governmental organizations of Bhallesa and Bhaderwah and have decided to field Mehboob Iqbal from the constituency. “If Congress will announce ticket in his favour, we will support Congress and if it ignores him we will field Mehboob Iqbal as Independent and will also organize a protest rally from the home village of Ghulam Nabi Azad”, Javed Ahmed said.
He added that party has not consulted the local population for mandate and they are unaware about the ground situation. “Ground situation has changed and people do not like those who are being considered for Party mandate”, he said added that before announcing mandate Party should constitute a committee to ascertain the ground situation in Bhallesa and Bhaderwah.
Meanwhile, to settle the sharing of seats for the six LoK Sabha segments from Jammu and Kashmir, the Coordination Committee of Congress and National Conference will be meeting in next few days to decide over the issue. Sources in Congress as well as in National Conference said that no consensus has been reached over the sharing of seats for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls. Congress wants to contest four of the six seats and has been a bone of contention between the two ruling partners in the state with National Conference stressing for equal share of the seats.
Sources said that after the first meeting of the coalition coordination comprising of three members each from Congress and National conference, it was decided to have a root level assessment of the segments by the respective parties individually before reaching to any agreement.
Sources said that coordination members— Saifudin Soz, deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Mangat Ram Sharma and NC president Farooq Abdullah, Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather and Muhammad Shafi Uri are meeting in next few days to finalize the issue.
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