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| Chidambaram visiting Kashmir at a critical juncture | | Time To Clarify | | Rustam
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, June 19: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram would reach Srinagar on Monday and hold meetings with various official on the same day and on June 21 to review the prevailing security scenario in Kashmir and arrangements for the Amarnath Yatra. He is visiting Kashmir at a very critical juncture. He is visiting at a time when certain local Congressmen have upped their ante against Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and demanded his removal after he completes three years in office and at a time when senior Congress leaders Makhan Lal Fotedar and Dr Karan Singh have queered the pitch for the Chief Minister by making some very unambiguous statements, which could be legitimately taken to mean censure of the Chief Minister and the government her heads.
Fotedar has censured Omar Abdullah by saying that the Mufti's rule was a "golden era"; that the accession of the state with final, unconditional and irrevocable; and that Omar Abdullah was not born when the issue of accession was settled. Dr Karan Singh has, on the other hand, assured the Congressmen that he would take up the issue of rotational chief minister-ship with AICC president Sonia Gandhi and tell her that full term of six years for the NC would be fatal for the long-term interests of the Congress party in the state. He had also publicly stated that it was he who advised Sonia Gandhi in 2005 to replace Mufti Mohammad Sayeed with some Congress leader as Chief Minister and that his intervention had clicked.
But more than that, Fotedar had taken on Chidambaram and said: "He speaks good English but he doesn't know anything about Jammu & Kashmir." He had said so in response to some media queries regarding the Chidambaram's October Srinagar statement that "Kashmir has a unique history and unique geography and Kashmir problem is unique that requires a unique solution."
What Fotedar and Karan Singh said on June 13 at Srinagar has changed the Kashmir's political scene to the extent that while some NC leaders have called Fotedar a "snake" as well as a "conspirator", the rattled Chief Minister has been repeatedly saying that there would be no change of guard in the state and that he would continue to hold the office for a full term of six years - assertion that has not carry conviction with the local Congressmen who continue to demand rotational chief minister-ship. So much so that he has met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek his support so that he is not disturbed.
This is the prevailing situation in Kashmir. It is obvious that media persons would rake up all these issues during their interaction with the Union Home Minister. It will be seen if he still sticks to what he said about Jammu & Kashmir in Srinagar after taking over as Home Minister and if he throws his weight behind Omar Abdullah, who is struggling very hard to retain control over the office. If he sticks to what he said about the state and throws his weight behind Omar Abdullah, then it would obviously mean a confrontation between him and two senior Congress leaders, who belong to the state, as also a confrontation between the Omar loyalists and supporters and those Congressmen who want Omar Abdullah to quit on January 4, 2012.
All in all, it would be difficult for Chidambaram to maintain a balance. For, the battle lines have already been drawn: Fotedar has said he stands by each and every word he said and Karan Singh has said rotational chief minister-ship is the need of the time. |
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