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| Who can be Union Minister from J&K? | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, May 17: Aberrations and some missing links notwithstanding, as the ruling coalition partners conclude a splendid show of success in the Lok Sabha elections, by winning five of the six seats, an internal competition is on between National Conference and the Congress in securing a berth in the upcoming Dr Manmohan Singh Government. Interestingly, the competition is not only between two coalition partners but also more intense within the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members of the Congress from the state.
None of the five newly elected Lok Sabha members and even the three Rajya Sabha members has lesser claim than the other on a seat in the Union Government. It has to be seen whether the United Progressive Alliance government can afford to have two Ministers from Jammu and Kashmir –one from each party –but one thing is for sure that the National Conference is keen on having a ministerial berth for Dr Farooq Abdullah.
For the Congress high command it would be a ticklish problem to choose MPs from Jammu and Kashmir for induction in the union council of Ministers. This time the state has elected two MPs belonging to the Congress and three belonging to its ruling partner, the National Conference. Besides this there are two members of the Rajya Sabha, Prof.Saif-ud-Din Soz and Ghulam Nabi Azad. Soz was a member of the cabinet headed by Dr Manmohan Singh. His performance as a Union Minister for Water Resources has been appreciated in the state and in the centre. He belongs to the Congress and hence has better chances than the others. If the Prime Minister and the UPA chairman, Sonia Gandhi, opt for new faces from the state Madan Lal Sharma and Lal Singh could have been then favourites had not the centre been under pressure to induct a Muslim from Jammu and Kashmir. If that is the criterion to be adopted either Soz or Ghulam Nabi Azad can be considered for the berth in the cabinet. Azad had been in the union cabinet for a number of years during the time Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimaha Roa were the Prime Ministers. One thing seems to be sure that this time the Congress high command may prefer one National Conference MP for cabinet induction. Till the vacant Rajya Sabha seat was filled Farooq Abdullah is the natural choice. When the Congress shared power with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir the Congress high command had sounded the PDP leadership for giving a berth to the lone party MP, Mehbooba Mufti. However, both Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Mehbooba did not agree. They simply assured the centre of the PDP's support. Reports indicate that the Congress high command is quite happy with the role Soz played as the PCC Chief and as such it would try to ask Soz to concentrate on the party affairs and activities in Jammu and Kashmir. In case Sonia and Manmohan Singh favour Soz's induction in the union cabinet than Ghulam Nabi Azad, may be appointed as the PCC President. These very reports reveal that the centre would prefer a Kashmiri MP in the cabinet. Since in the union cabinet there was no MP from the Jammu region the Congress high command could induct one from Kashmir and another MP from the Jammu region. Reports said that all the five MPs, Farooq, Lal Singh, Madan Lal Sharma, Azad, Soz are keen to get berth in the cabinet. Since the UPA Government does not have to bank on the NC support for its survival it may not be mandatory for it to include one NC MP in the union cabinet. But the coalition Dharma calls upon the Congress high command to offer a cabinet post to its partner in the border state, the National Conference. It may go well in the valley where the voters have voted for the NC candidates.
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