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| Preparing ground for political extinction in Jammu | | State of Congress -- I | | Neha
JAMMU, Oct 11: The otherwise under-severe-attack NC has suddenly become very vocal and aggressive. The Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who remained defensive for almost a week after the PDP and others, including his father Farooq Abdullah and MoS Home Nasir Aslam Wani, accused them of hatching a conspiracy to eliminate Syed Mohammad Yousuf, NC worker, has gone on the offensive and said he would not kneel under opposition pressure. Farooq Abdullah, too, has adopted a similar stance. Omar Abdullah's uncle and party additional general secretary and spokesperson Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, who has been charged with the responsibility of meeting the opposition's attack and neutralizing its influence, has not only become aggressive but has also publicly stated that the NC would lead the coalition government for a full term of six years and this matter stands closed.
What has emboldened the otherwise week and roundly condemned NC leadership to go on the offensive and assert that it would continue to hold the office of chief minister for six years? Undoubtedly, it is the unqualified support of the Congress high command which consists of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and which is surrounded by a coterie consisting of the likes of Ahmed Patel (Sonia's political advisor), Digvijay Singh, P Chidambaram, Ambika Soni and so on. It was Rahul who came to the rescue of Omar Abdullah in 2010, when the situation in Kashmir went out of control and the state government became dysfunctional for months together. The Cabinet Committee on National Security, which is headed by the Prime Minister, had censured Omar Abdullah in writing and had said that whatever happened in Kashmir was the immediate fall-out of "trust deficit" and "governance deficit". It was a scathing attack on Omar Abdullah, his government an his style of functioning.
And, just when it was almost certain that Omar Abdullah would be shown the door, Rahul, who has not yet taken off despite full backing of the Congress party, the government and a section of media, intervened and publicly stated that "Omar needs some more time". He intervened when he was in Kolkatta. Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister acted accordingly and allowed Omar to ride roughshod, thus outraging the sentiments of the Jammu-based Congress leadership, which then believed, and continues to believe, that continuation of Omar Abdullah as Chief Minister would not only complicate further the situation in Kashmir but would also make the Congress party in Jammu province unpopular and irrelevant.
It was almost at the same time that Congress leaders like former Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma and Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma publicly stated and restated that the Congress must occupy the chief minister's chair after Omar Abdullah completes three years in office. Sham Lal Sharma even went to extent of demanding the state's trifurcation. Their argument was that the Congress would lose its political battle in Jammu if the 2002 power-sharing formula between the Congress and the PDP was not applied and if the "NC is allowed to rule the state beyond a period of three years". Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Karan Singh also expressed identical views last summer and assured the Congress workers in Srinagar that he would play his role and persuade the Congress high command to do the needful. In fact, he expressed the view that if the Congress was to remain relevant in the state, the high command will have to remove Omar Abdullah on or before January 4, 2012.
Both the Sharmas and Karan Singh have stopped airing such views. Why? It is for them to answer this question. However, the general perception in the Congress circles is that the "high command has snubbed each one of them" and "warned that action would be taken against them if they insist on their demand". It is pertinent to mention here that both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister had assured Omar Abdullah that nothing would be done to dislodge him and that he would continue for full six years. This happened after the Karan Singh's assurance to the Congress workers in Srinagar that he would ensure transfer of power from the NC to the Congress. (To be continued) |
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