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| Kamal, Omar unite the divided Congress? | | Major Political Development | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Oct 28: The state unit of the Congress was in a bad shape till the other day. Almost everyone had written its obituary opining that it had become irrelevant because it had allowed itself to be guided, controlled and directed by the NC.
Congress-watchers had, without any exception, expressed the view that it was no more than a B-team of the NC and that the electorate of the state would reject it outright in the next elections, when held. Significantly, this was also the view of the bulk of the local Congress leaders and workers operating at the grass-roots level.
They belonged to that school of thought that vouched for the 2002 power-sharing formula between it and the PDP (rotational chief minister). But things have changed dramatically over the past couple of days. Courtesy: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his uncle and NC chief spokesperson Mustafa Kamal and the provocative statements they made on and after October 21.
What they said is known to everyone across the country and, hence, no need of referring to here what they said during the last few days against the Army and the Congress. Till the other day, the people, the Congress-watchers, and even the concerned and perturbed Congress workers had not imagined that the Congress leaders, without any exception, would respond uniformly to the developments as they unfolded one after the other after October 21, when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah hinted that the AFSPA could be revoked from certain areas considered by him "peaceful", but it happened yesterday.
JKPCC president Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz broke his silence and criticized Omar Abdullah. He accused him of flouting the basic principles of coalition dharma to score political mileage at the cost of the Congress and national security and expressed the view that Omar Abdullah would not be able to force down the people's throat his controversial agenda. He made it loud and clear that Omar Abdullah would not be allowed to ride roughshod and that if he really meant business he had to respect the sentiments of his coalition partner, the Congress party, and take it along and address its concerns and apprehensions, including its views on national security.
What Prof Soz said could be construed as a warning signal to Omar Abdullah that his days were numbered and that there could be change of guard in the state's corridors of power in the first week of January 2012. This was the first major positive development in the otherwise uncertain political situation in the state after several months.
Other development that took place the same day was a meeting organized by the Ghulam Nabi Azad loyalists, including a number of JKPCC office-bearers, sitting MLCs, former ministers, some former councilors and youth Congress leaders. Former political advisor to Azad was also present in the meeting. The meeting expressed grave concern over the "irresponsible" manner in which the NC leadership had been behaving for quite sometime now and expressed the view that "NC leaders like Kamal Mustafa had been endangering national security and demoralizing the armed forces by making outrageous statements". Of course, they focused more on the implications of what Kamal had said, but the meeting, at the same time, left none in any doubt that their actual target was the NC and Omar Abdullah. The insiders told this correspondent that they wanted the "end of the Omar Abdullah rule at all cost".
The changed attitude of Prof Soz and what transpired in a meeting of the Azad loyalists signify only one thing -- the Congress as a party is fed up with Omar Abdullah and his government. It would be interesting to watch if the factional fight within the Congress would actually come to an end and everyone in the Congress works with a single-minded devotion to achieve one goal, replacement of NC's rule with the Congress' rule in the state. The situation as it exists today does expect the Congress leaders and workers to "forget the past and start afresh to dislodge the NC which has already caused enough of damage to the state's polity". This was the opinion of everyone in the Congress with whom this correspondent could interact yesterday. |
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