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| Will Cong high command endorse Madan's suggestion? | | NO Seat-Sharing With NC | | Rustam
JAMMU, Sept 3: Congress MP from Jammu-Poonch Parliamentary constituency Madan Lal Sharma yesterday suggested that the "Congress should not ally with the party (NC) in next elections as the Congress viewpoint is not being accommodated" and that "resentment is brewing among the Congress workers", as they are unhappy with the party that is in the driver's seat. He was highly critical of the NC. He, at the same time, said that "in case any decision is taken, the Congress manifesto should be given due consideration". Sharma made these suggestions in the presence of JKPCC chief Saif-ud-Din Soz and some other top Congress leaders, including some Ministers, while addressing a party rally at Agrore, Jammu.
Three things were clear from what Sharma said. One, many in the Congress party, especially those belonging to Jammu Pradesh, are extremely unhappy over the existing relationship between the Congress and the NC. It is understandable. The Congress has little or no say in the governance of the State. It is basically the NC which is ruling the roost and taking policy decisions. Even the JKPCC chief, who is chairman of the Congress-NC Coordination Committee, is not taken on board by the NC leaders, including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. They are not even on talking terms in the real sense of the term. There is an impression that the NC has been riding roughshod over its coalition partner and leaving no stone unturned to render the Congress party ineffective and unreal in the State politics in general and Jammu politics in particular. They do make a point. They do make a point when they say that the Congress should not enter into any kind of pre-poll or post alliance with the NC.
Two: the NC has been giving an effect to in stages to its 2008 election manifesto with a view to further widening the already rather wide gulf between Kashmir Valley and New Delhi and not allowing the Congress to fulfill the promises it solemnly held out in its 2008 election manifesto. This is what the statement of Sharma clearly suggested. It is, however, a different story that the Congress leadership has never ever tried to fulfill the promises it made to garner support of Jammu electorate in the last Assembly elections. It had promised many things. Four of them were: End of discriminatory policies with Jammu Pradesh, amendment in the State Constitution to federalize the State polity, establishment of an adequately empowered regional council in Jammu and constitution of a delimitation commission. The Congress has not only failed to honour the commitments it made with great fanfare in the Jammu Press Club in October 2008, but has, in fact, become a party to many decisions which are patently anti-Jammu. Take, for example, the manner in which the Congress Minister had to withdraw his order under which the Dogras were entitled to obtain Dogra certificate. One can refer to here scores and scores of example to prove the point that the situation in Jammu Pradesh has worsened under the present dispensation of which the Congress is a part. What Sharma said could be termed as petty politics aimed at hoodwinking and misleading the people of Jammu Pradesh. It is a futile exercise. The people of Jammu Pradesh know that it is the Congress that has harmed them more, as compared to the out-and-out Kashmir-centric and sectarian NC.
Three: Sharma was not really committed to what he suggested. His statement that "in case any decision (on alliance with the NC) is taken, the Congress manifesto should be given due consideration" should leave none in any doubt that he was not really committed to what he suggested. It was indeed a half-hearted suggestion. Had he really meant what he said, he would have been bold enough to declare that he and others who are opposed to any kind of truck with the NC would leave the party and float a new one. He, in fact, left everything to the judgment and wisdom or discretion of the Congress high command, which is committed to maintaining its ties with the NC, at least till the upcoming general elections. It needs the support of the NC MPs.
The moral of the story is that the frustrated and desperate Congress leadership, which is vertically divided into two groups, is indulging in an exercise that has no takers in Jammu Pradesh. The people of Jammu Pradesh have understood everything. If the Jammu Congress leadership really meant business, it has to take a clear-cut stand. The kind of politics it right now is indulging in will not help it. In fact, it will boomerang. |
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