news details |
|
|
| Struggle for Nagrota constituency: Political Advisor Rana versus Ajatshatru | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 14: Party politics within the National Conference is assuming alarming proportions, not for the people of Jammu province who are by and large opposed to this Kashmir-based party, but for the party itself that has been trying to capture the political space in the prestigious Nagrota assembly constituency from the BJP since 2002, when its candidate Ajatshatru Singh lost the election by a paltry 60 odd votes. The BJP had won this seat not only in 2002, but also retained it in 2008 as well.
What has given an interesting twist to the party politics within the National Conference in the Nagrota constituency is the frequent forays into this constituency of the Political Advisor to the Chief Minister, Devendra Singh Rana. Ever since the Civil Secretariat shifted from Kashmir to Jammu in October last, the Chief Minister's Political Advisor has been frequently visiting the Nagrota constituency, organizing public meetings and inducing several disgruntled and controversial elements, including some "bad characters", belonging to different political parties to join the National Conference. The provincial president Rattan Lal Gupta invariably ensures his presence in the functions organized on behalf of or by Devendra Singh Rana himself in the Nagrota assembly constituency for promoting his personal political interests.
Political observers feel that whatever the Political Advisor to the Chief Minister has been doing in the Nagrota assembly constituency he has been doing so to create a support-base for him there so that he is able to secure the party mandate to contest from this constituency as and when the assembly elections are held. They are of the view that Devendra Singh Rana is queering the pitch in the constituency for Ajatshatru Singh step-by-step and in a systematic manner. His sole objective, according to the keen political observers, is to ensure that when it comes to the crunch, the party high command (Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Sheikh Nazir) refuses the party mandate to Ajatshatru Singh, who won the election as a party candidate in 1996 and subsequently became Cabinet Minister.
There is a point in what the political observers have been feeling and revealing on the condition of anonymity. As a matter of fact, one cannot but agree with them and even go to the extent of opining that the Political Advisor to the Chief Minister has been working as per a definite strategy to corner Ajatshatru Singh and neutralize his influence in the constituency and prepare the ground for himself.
As for Ajatshatru Singh, who is MLC and who has his stable and tested support-base in the Nagrota constituency, has been watching all the activities very keenly. He has displayed remarkable restraint and not displayed his anger against what is being done meticulously in the Nagrota assembly constituency by the Political Advisor to the Chief Minister. "Sophisticated and dignified as he is", he has been, according to political observers, "not done anything that could bring bad name to the party". At the same time, however, he is "not happy" with his "detractors who are enjoying patronage of someone who matters in the party and in the government". Perhaps, it is Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, whose relations with his father and party president are far from cordial. It is "doubtful" if Ajatshatru Singh will, according to keen political observers, "stoop low to show his detractors their rightful place".
It is an interesting political tussle going on between the two Singhs in the Nagrota assembly constituency. Only time will show who ultimately emerges victorious in the struggle for Nagrota constituency, which has become a "prestige issue" between the two Singhs.
The political Advisor to the Chief Minister is emerging as a heavy political weight. It is true. But to underestimate Ajatshatru Singh would be a political miscalculation of sorts. He has the capacity to strike back. His entry into the Legislative Council is one proof. Besides, there are persons in the party who would always prefer him for various important reasons. Anyway, the Nagrota assembly constituency has become a subject of debate. Let us see what Rana and Singh would ultimately do in the days to come.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
