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| Karan hits nail on the head | | | Rustam
JAMMU, June 15: Former Sadar-e-Riyasat and senior Congress leader Dr Karan Singh is not a loose-talker. He speaks occasionally and when he talks he talks sense. He always hits nail on the head, notwithstanding his controversial "national interest" formulation. (He described the transfer of power from the Congress to Sheikh Abdullah in 1975 as a move to protect national interest over looking the fact that the move had boomeranged with Sheikh Abdullah again upping his ante against India and negating what his predecessors, including Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad and Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq had done to integrate the state into India politically and constitutionally."
It was Dr Singh who did some plain-speaking in Srinagar during the June 13 Congress workers' convention. He didn't attack the NC. Nor did he attack Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. What he said in response to the local Congress leaders' demand seeking removal of Omar Abdullah from the office of Chief Minister on January 5, 2012, when he completes three years in office, was nothing but an unequivocal warning to the Congress high command that any failure on its part to respect the sentiments and views of the local Congressmen would adversely impact the Congress' electoral prospects in the state and help the coalition partner, an eventuality that should be averted. In other words, he expressed himself in favour of the 2002 power-sharing formula under which the PDP and the Congress shared power in the state between 2002 and 2008.
Dr Singh assured the local Congress leaders and workers that he would take up the issue of rotational chief minister-ship with Sonia Gandhi, AICC president, and other Congress leaders and advocate the need for an arrangement that treats the Congress and NC equally. "He supports the general feeling in the state Congress unit that chief minister-ship should be rotational for larger interests of the party…When Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, a strong demand came to Congress high command, especially to Sonia Gandhi that full six years should be given to Mufti Sahib, as coalition was doing well. I and other Congress leaders at New Delhi gave our own opinion that once full six years are given to Mufti Sahib, it will decrease our voter share in next elections. Congress high command weighed our suggestion and three years of chief minister-ship were later given to Congress party…I also support the suggestion that equal share should be given to Congress in the government. Once equal share would be given to the Congress, it would be for larger interests of the party…I promise you, you consider me, as your lawyer, I will plead your case to Congress High Command," he, among other things, told the local Congress leaders and workers.
It bears recalling that senior Congress leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Monga, Bashir Ahmad Magray, Abdul Majid Paddar and Mohammad Muzzafar Parray, had urged Dr Singh to tell Sonia Gandhi that the Congress workers and leaders do not want work as "B" team in the state and that the Congress should hold the office of chief minister after 2011. They had lodged a strong protest against the Chief Minister, saying his government had never cared for the interests and views of the Congressmen.
The observation of Dr Singh that the continuation of Mufti Sayeed as Chief Minister for a full term will decrease our voter share in next elections should clinch the whole issue and establish that he continues to hold the same view even today. The context was the same and his argument was also identical. All this shows that Dr Singh might play a role that could dislodge Omar Abdullah and transfer the office of Chief Minister to a Congress leader. The votaries of rotational chief minister-ship made a point and Dr Singh also made a very valid point. However, it will be seen if Dr Singh finally succeeds. But one thing is very clear: Power struggle between the Congress and the NC would become bitter and bitter with each passing day. It would be interesting to watch what the Congress would do to achieve its objective and the NC to defeat the Congress' moves. |
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