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| Azad's supporters in J&K are a dejected lot | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 12: All or nearly all the supporters and followers of the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad are in a state of mourning. They are feeling dejected, ignored and sidelined. Sources close to them have told the Early Times that they are not only in a state of shock and mourning but some of them are also very angry with Ghulam Nabi Azad. These sources, which are quite credible and trustworthy, have revealed that the followers and supporters of the former Chief Minister are fuming and using all kinds of negative words against him for several reasons, some of which are, of course, personal in nature.
The grouse of those who could not now no longer be really termed as supporters and followers of Ghulam Nabi Azad as most of them have practically snapped their relations with him, according to these sources, is that the former Chief Minister, after joining the Union Council of Ministers, has completely forgotten them and left them in the lurch. They have also come to believe that Ghulam Nabi Azad has "no say whatever in the state politics or in the civil secretariat" and that he has "annoyed" Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and JKPCC chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz by "his statements", some of which were "immature and personally and politically motivated". Besides, they have now realized that it was a mistake on their part to maintain a long distance from Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz in order to remain in the "good books" of what they call "ineffective", "undependable", "untrustworthy" and "opportunist" Ghulam Nabi Azad. They have substantiated their views by referring to the plight of those four-five people, including one former Cabinet Minister, one MP and one MLA, who had worked day and night during the last assembly elections for the victory of the Congress.
The new critics of Azad appear correct because it is a fact that the former Chief Minister had ignored almost all the JKPCC office bearers and set up an election office at Gandhi Nagar. That office functioned as a parallel office. The JKPCC chief and his team members had not appreciated the opening of a parallel office outside the party headquarters at Shahidi Chowk. In fact, the activities undertaken at the Gandhi Nagar office had created confusion not only among press persons but also among the people.
Even Ghulam Nabi Azad had to ask in anger his supporters to close down the Gandhi Nagar office for reasons not difficult to understand considering his not-so-good relations with AICC president Sonia Gandhi's political advisor Ahmed Patel and in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir Congress Prithavi Raj Chavan, besides Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz. As per the sources, some of the former followers and supporters of Ghulam Nabi Azad have gone to the extent of admitting that "had they maintained distance from him and joined hands with the effective and dependable Soz", their plight today would not have been miserable and that they would have been "suitably" adjusted. In this regard, they refer to the entry of the Soz's supporters in the Legislative Council and elevation to the position of Deputy Chairmen of various important boards. They hold themselves responsible for their pathetic situation they are in as well as their neglect.
The extent of their despondency, frustration and anger can be measured from the fact that the former supporters and admirers of Ghulam Nabi Azad have told the Early Times that "they have burnt their boats" and that "even if they now decide to change sides or cultivate JKPCC president Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz, such an action on their part would not help them".
What, according to these sources, has annoyed the supporters and followers of Azad all the more was his "unwarranted" statement that he had played his inning in the state and that he was interested only in national politics. He made this statement before his supporters in Jammu only a couple of months ago. |
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