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| Office of Chief Minister: Resentment brewing among Jammu Congressmen | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Nov 7: Things in the Congress party in Jammu province are changing dramatically. There is a growing realization among the Congressmen in Jammu that the continuation of Omar Abdullah as Chief Minister after January 4, 2011 would mar the electoral prospectus of the party and that it is time for them to mount pressure on the Congress high command so that the NC-led coalition government is replaced with the Congress-led coalition government after Omar Abdullah completes three years in office.
That things have undergone a dramatic change became quite evident on November 3, when the District Congress Committee (Jammu Urban) convened a meeting to discuss ways and means to make the proposed convention of party workers in the Jammu district a grand success with a view to neutralizing the influence of the BJP and the JKNPP. The BJP and the JKNPP have been undertaking activities with a view to creating a feeling among the people of Jammu province that the Congress party is responsible for the neglect of their region, that whatever the pro-autonomy and pro-separatist NC has been doing it has been doing with the full backing of the Congress party and that they, and not the Congress party, are the true representatives of the people of Jammu province. They have been organizing shutdowns at regular intervals and attacking the Congress-led UPA Government, saying it is hand-in-glove with the controversial Chief Minister, who has been making what they call "anti-India and pro-separatist statements."
What transpired in the meeting of the "aging but energetic" Om Chopra-led District Congress Committee, which had been, among others, attended by several senior Congress leaders, including former Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma, Deputy Chairman of Legislative Council Arvinder Singh Micky, Former Cabinet Minister BR Kundal, Former MP and Deputy Speaker Janak Raj Gupta, former Minister Yogesh Sawhney, MLC and spokesperson Ravinder Sharma, JKPCC vice-president S. Gurmukh Singh, JKPCC general Secretaries Kanta Bhan and S. Amolak Singh, was a clear indication that the patience of the Congressmen in Jammu province was nearing its end and that they might sooner than later take up the issue with the party high command.
Reliable sources within the Congress party disclosed on the condition of anonymity that when Yogesh Sawhney drew the attention of all those present in the largely attended meeting to the fact that it was not good on the part of the Congressmen to keep mum when the former Deputy Chief Minister suggested in the presence of the JKPCC chief Prof-Saif-ud-Din Soz in a public rally at Dayalachak (Hiranagar tehsil) that there should be rotational chief minister-ship, as such an arrangement alone could enable the Congress to consolidate and expand further its constituency in the Jammu province and that the office of Chief Minister must be given to some Jammu-based Congressman in the interest of the Congress party. According to sources, everyone listened to Sawhney. No one contested what the former minister said in the meeting. As a matter of fact, everyone in the meeting, according to the said sources, shared the view of the former minister, thus indicating the full support of all those who attended the meeting that day to the suggestion that Omar Abdullah must be shown the door after he completes three years in office. So mush so, the party spokesperson asserted in the meeting that "the Congress is not a B-team of the NC" and that the "NC must take the Congress party for a ride."
Thus the Congressmen in Jammu, the Early Times was told, supported the idea of the office of Chief Minister to be rotated between the NC and the Congress as was the case when the PDP and the Congress formed a post-poll alliance in order to form government in the state on November 5, 2002. "The opposition to the idea of Omar Abdullah continuing as Chief Minister after January 4, 2011 was strong, loud and eloquent," the sources told and added "That none opposed Sawhny and that everyone listened to him very patiently was nothing but a manifestation of the anger that had been brewing among the Congressmen in Jammu province."
It appears that Jammu in the coming days would witness the Congressmen coming out openly in favour of what they believe is the only way out to remain relevant politically in Jammu province. Sharma might have taken the lead and given some concrete shape to what he thinks best for the survival of the Congress party in Jammu province and Sawhney might have joined the bandwagon of Sharma, but if the sources within the Congress are to be believed, then it can presumed that the coming days would witness an interesting struggle between the two coalition partners. One thing, however, is clear: The Congress is at the receiving end in Jammu province, with the NC calling all the shots. |
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