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| Inter-District Recruitment: Sonia may not oblige Omar | | |
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 25: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has landed himself into serious trouble by expressing himself in favour of ban on inter-district recruitment. His problem has been further aggravated by his party colleague and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar, who announced on the floor of the assembly a couple of days ago that the government would bring a legislation seeking ban on inter-district recruitment in the current budget session.
The problem of Omar Abdullah is that while the People's Democratic Party (PDP) is for a total ban on inter-district recruitment, the Congress, which is sharing power with the National Conference (NC), is vertically divided on this issue. Majority of the Kashmir-based Congress leaders are with the Chief Minister and the PDP. On the contrary, most of the Jammu-based Congress leaders and ministers, barring R S Chib, are against the proposed legislation, which is based on the Joint-Select Committee's report. RS Chib was member of the Joint-Select Committee and he had endorsed the idea of ban on inter-district recruitment for reasons best known to him.
Sources close to Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla and Leader of the Congress Legislature Party Chaudhary Aslam have revealed that all the three senior Congress leaders are one as far as their opposition to the proposed legislation is concerned. They, like many others in the party, are of the view that the proposed legislation is a bad legislation and it is designed to harm the Jammu-based Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. They are afraid, and for right reasons, that any attempt on their part to tinker with the existing reservation rules and system of inter-district recruitment would harm the long-term interests of the Congress party in Jammu province, which has always stood solidly behind it.
Under the existing rules, the Scheduled Caste communities are getting eight per cent reservation in government jobs across the state, Jammu province and Kashmir division included. Once the Assembly adopts the proposed legislation and the Governor gives his assent to it, the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe candidates belonging to Jammu province would become ineligible for seeking jobs in the Kashmir's twelve districts. They would be the losers. That is why all the Jammu-based Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe organizations have joined hands and raised a banner of revolt against the government.
The opposition of the Jammu-based Congress leaders to the proposed legislation has also much to do with the adverse response it has evoked in Jammu. It is important to note that the concerned communities are organizing press conferences in Jammu almost everyday to register protest against the proposed legislation. They are warning the government that they would launch a movement in case it puts a ban on inter-district recruitment.
Convinced that the Jammu-based Congress leaders would not support him on the issue, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah met AICC president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on March 24 with a view to persuading her so that she directs the local Congress leaders, legislators and ministers not to oppose the proposed legislation. According to reports, Omar Abdullah told Sonia Gandhi that a total ban on inter-district recruitment has become imperative in view of the mounting pressure both from the NC and the PDP legislators.
The meeting between the two has not really helped the Chief Minister. Sonia Gandhi has, according to sources, only told Omar Abdullah that she would discuss the issue the local Congress leaders, including Tara Chand and Chaudhary Mohammad Aslam. That the Deputy Chief Minister, Leaders of the Congress Legislature Party and the Revenue Minister would oppose the proposed legislation tooth and nail is foregone conclusion. The attitude of MPs Madan Lal Sharma and Lal Singh and Health Minister Sham Sharma is no different.
It would not be easy for Sonia Gandhi to go against the wishes of the Jammu-based Congress leaders. To be more precise, it would be too much to expect that she would overrule the opinion of her own men in order to bail out and oblige Omar Abdullah. Why should she?
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