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| Omar Govt may have more Ministers -with portfolio, without oath | | Kafeel-ur-Rehman tipped to get Minister rank as head of Pahari Board | |
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Jul 16: In an exercise of retrieving the morale and loyalty of a number of his party colleagues and influential leaders, who failed to get Ministerial berths on occasion of the Cabinet expansion on July 11th, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is understood to be working on a plan to ‘accommodate’ some legislators as ‘Ministers without oath’. While senior NC leader Mubarak Gul has been installed as ‘Advisor to Chief Minister’ with a Cabinet rank, two of the failed aspirants are tipped to be appointed as heads of the advisory boards for Pahari and Gujjar communities with upgradation of the position from Vice Chairman to Chairman and rank from Minister of State (MOS) to Cabinet Minister.
Highly placed sources in the coalition government revealed to Early Times today that notwithstanding some ‘over-reactions’ from the supporters of angry MLAs---notably Irfan Shah and Mir Saifullah---Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was inclined to accommodate few of his party leaders as advisors and heads of statutory boards holding the rank of a Minister. According to these sources, three-time MLA from Karnah, Kafeel-ur-Rehman, was likely to be inducted as head of Jammu & Kashmir State Advisory Board for Development of Pahari Speaking People.
In the last nearly two decades, head of the government (Chief Minister) has been functioning as Chairman of both Pahari as well as Gujjar boards while as eminent persons from the socially and economically backward communities have been working as Vice Chairman, holding the rank of an MOS. In a significant development, Government is now likely to appoint full-fledged Chairpersons for both the bodies and both the heads, relieving Chief Minister of his responsibilities, would be granted the status of Cabinet Ministers.
In Dr Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference (NC) government in 1996-2002, Kafeel-ur-Rehman had functioned as Vice Chairman of Pahari Board and enjoyed the rank and status of an MOS. He had succeeded influential Pahari leader and one-time Minister Mohammad Deen Banday. PDP-led coalition government had later appointed Shabir Ahmed Khan as VC of Pahari Board with the same status. In a tough contest, Khan was returned on Congress party’s ticket from Rajouri in the 2008 Assembly elections. Last week, he was inducted as an MOS.
While working as VC of J&K State Advisory Board for Development of Gujjar and Bakerwal communities for several years, senior Gujjar leader and three-time MLA from Gulabgarh, Haji Buland Khan, has been succeeded in the lately created constituency of Gool Arnas by his son, Aijaz Ahmed Khan, since 2002. But his slot in Gujjar board has remained vacant after his death three years ago. Aijaz, who had worked as MOS in Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s and Ghulam Nabi Azad’s governments in the last six years, has yet again been inducted as MOS last week.
Sources said that the likely-to-be-upgraded slot of the Chairman of Gujjar board has gone to the coalition partner Congress in the distribution of positions and portfolios between the two ruling parties. This very slot had been offered by J&K Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Saifuddin Soz, to the estranged colleague and MLA from Surankote, Chaudhary Mohammad Aslam. The high-profile Congress leader, however, refused to accept it even as it was made clear to him that the position had been upgraded to Chairman who would hold the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister. Sources said that Congress would recommend a nominee for this slot only after settling the feud between Soz and Aslam at its 10-Janpath court.
Appearing to be more upset on MLC R S Chib’s induction as Minister than their own omission, Congress MLAs Chaudhary Aslam and Mohammad Sharief Niaz and MLC Abdul Gani Vakil---all former Ministers---are currently gunning for Prof Soz at their party headquarters in New Delhi.
Even after likely induction of Kafeel-ur-Rehman as Chairman of Pahari Board, much would remain to be seen whether Omar Abdullah would end it there or give “due representation” to the NC’s massive votebank in Kupwara district. Four-time MLA from Handwara and one of the most assertive Ministers of Dr Abdullah’s governments in 1987-90 and 1996-2002, Chaudhary Mohammad Ramzan, and three-time MLA from Kupwara, Mir Saifullah, have been strong contenders of a cabinet berth in Omar Abdullah’s Council of Ministers.
Even after militants have reportedly killed over 150 of his close associates in the last 19 years, Chaudhary has not only caused a decisive dent in formidable Peoples Conference bastion in Handwara but also made remarkable contribution to all of NC’s victories from Baramulla-Kupwara in the Lok Sabha elections of 1998, 1999, 2004 and now 2009. Having polled 29,000 votes in the Assembly elections of 2008, Chaudhary happens to be the only MLA from 46 segments in Kashmir valley who figures in the top 10 positions of all winners in J&K. Getting a lead of more than 3,000 votes in Handwara segment for the NC candidate in recent Lok Sabha elections, Chaudhary also ridiculed the PC Chairman Sajjad Gani Lone’s claim of taking a lead of “over 15,000 votes” from his home constituency.
In the adjoining Kupwara segment, Mir Saifullah had defeated a PC-backed Ghulam Qadir Mir in a tough contest in 2002. He not only trounced late Abdul Gani Lone’s daughter in her maiden contest in Kupwara in 2008 Assembly elections but also ensured a lead of over 2,000 votes for the NC candidate in the same segment in recent Lok Sabha elections.
Sources, however, said that both, Chaudhary as well as Saifullah, had conveyed it in plain terms to the party leadership that neither of them would be content with an “ornamental rank of Minister without oath”. Senior colleagues had reportedly sent them “feelers” that Chief Minister was inclined to accommodate one of them on a senior party position and another as Chairman of a Corporation. Sources said that Chief Minister had, of late, taken exception to Mir Saifullah’s followers’ shouting “derogatory slogans” against him in Kupwara and MLA Batmaloo, Irfan Shah, himself leading an attack of his supporters on Dr Abdullah’s Gupkar Road residence earlier this week.
It was immediately after Irfan Shah’s offensive that Omar inducted four-time MLA and founder-President of J&K Youth National Conference, Mubarak Gul, as his “Advisor” and granted him the rank of a Cabinet Minister on Tuesday last. A strong contender of an MOS slot, Shah has reportedly launched a tirade against some of CM’s close associates, notably MLA Amirakadal and MOS Nasir Aslam Wani, calling him a “Dehati imposed on Srinagar”. Shah had defeated PDP stalwart and Cabinet Minister, Tariq Hameed Qarra, while polling over 13,000 votes in Batmaloo in the 2008 Assembly elections.
While Chaudhary Ramzan and MLA Kishtwar, Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo, are the top contenders with strong claims, NC’s MLC and former Chief Secretary Vijay Bakaya has been reportedly upset with his supporters complaining that no representation had been given to Kashmiri Pandit community in the Cabinet. Conspicuously absent on occasion of the 10th-day ceremony of his deceased brother-in-law, Bakaya had been reportedly asked by senior NC leaders to remain camping in Srinagar for the oath-taking. Sources said that Chief Minister was likely to induct Bakaya as head of an advisory body with the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister.
Sources said that Government was also toying with the idea of accommodating some of the strong contenders as Parliamentary Secretaries with the rank of a Deputy Minister. NC’s MLA from Poonch-Haveli, Aijaz Ahmed Jan, and two-time MLA from Nowshehra, Radhay Sham Sharma, are said to be probables in this category and a higher one.
With Mubarak Gul’s induction, there are now three advisors holding the rank of a minister without oath in Omar Abdullah’s government. MLC from Jammu, Devender Sing Rana, and former bureaucrat, Jaleel Ahmed Khan, who has replaced Haseeb Drabu as Economic Advisor to J&K Government, are both holding the rank and status of MOS.
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