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| Notwithstanding "scam-tainted" record in office, IAS officer prepares to try luck in politics | | | Bharat Bhushan
JAMMU, July 25: Mehboob Iqbal -- retired IAS officer -- who has his name associated with three major scams in J&K -- JAKFED scam, Gulmarg land scam and rural electrification scam -- seems all set to try his luck in politics.
To create his vote bank and maintain one-to-one contact with the people in Bhaderwah Assembly segment, he has floated Bhaderwah-Bhalessa-Chirala Development and Welfare Forum, popularly known as BBC.
To start with, he has opened three offices of the forum at Bhaderwah, Bhalessa and Chirala. The crowd in these offices comprises of workers belonging to Congress, National Conference, PDP and BJP.
Sources in NC said since the party was a divided house in Bhaderwah tehsil, most of its workers had switched their loyalty to Iqbal and could be seen spreading his message to people in the Bhaderwah Assembly constituency.
"He has been visiting people, holding meetings with them and telling them about his "clandestine" plans of contesting next Assembly polls from Bhaderwah," the sources added.
He had almost made clear his intentions in this regard when, in a public rally organised to welcome him on his first visit to Bhaderwah town after his retirement last year, he said, "I will continue to serve the people of Bhaderwah."
The obvious purpose of the rally was to prove the point that he enjoyed acceptability in public at Bhaderwah.
While he has yet not made it clear which political party he plans to join, those, who are part of his core group, claim that he has entered into a "secret" pact with Congress. Others feel that it is PDP which has sent him to Bhaderwah to consolidate his position.
The rally looked non-political in nature as the representatives of BJP and Sangh Parivaar, besides Ghulam Nabi Azad-loyalists, were among those who had received Iqbal.
Azad's cousin Mohammad Sharief Niaz is sitting MLA from Bhaderwah. His supporters, however, had abstained from the function.
Some in Bhaderwah feel that a systematic effort is being made to project Iqbal as the next Congress candidate from Bhaderwah Assembly segment. They are also quick in drawing a comparison between "scam-tainted" Mehboob and Niaz, who is known for his integrity and loyality to the party.
Also, the new idea of having next MLA from Bhaderwah town was floated in the rally. Niaz is from Bhaderwah's far-flung Bhalessa area.
Some people said they were not bothered about Iqbal's "tainted" record in service and they would support him come what may.
He floated BBC with the idea of attracting people to his offices. The idea seems to be working well as at least one section of Bhaderwah society is ready to ignore his "tainted" record in office. |
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