Political crisis fails to end internal bickerings in J&K Cong

SYED ALI SAFVI

SRINAGAR, July 13: As the political crisis deepens in the conflict-ridden state of J&K, it has failed to reduce the internal bickering within the ranks of state unit of Congress party.
The two factions of the state Congress unit, one owing allegiance to JKPCC chief, Saif-ud-Din Soz and the other to union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, are again at loggerhead with Azad's loyalists blaming the state unit chief for not having convened a meeting of JKPCC cadre prior to the all-party meet.

"Unfortunate attitude of leadership of Congress party in Jammu and Kashmir, which preferred not to call meeting of both Congress executive and legislature party (CLP) prior to participating in all-party meeting called by chief minister, Omar Abdullah, is against democratic values of the party," said a statement issued to the press by some disgruntled JKPCC members, including few ex-ministers.

Talking to Kashmir Times, senior JKPCC leader, Abdul Gani Vakil said that it was imperative for the unit president to have convened the party meeting to discuss the ongoing crisis.
"Congress party represents democracy in its real sense, but what the state Congress unit did is against the spirit of democracy," he said.

However, refuting the allegations of Vakil, JKPCC president said that he had directed his party whips to inform every Congress legislator to attend the meeting of coordination committee.

"I had directed the two party whips, Ghulam Ahmad Mir and Bashir Ahmad Mir to inform all MLAs and MLCs to be present in the coordination committee meet, but Choudhary (Mohammad Aslam) sahib and Vakil sahib opted out," Soz told Kashmir Times. "Yes, we wanted to call executive and legislators meet, but due to time constraints we were unable to do that."
Soz said that he had tried to persuade CLP leader, Choudhary Mohammad Aslam through Ghulam Ahmad Mir.

"I also talked to Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand on phone and requested him to attend the legislators' meet," he said.

Senior Congress leader and former minister, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, said that there was hardly any time to have summoned the party legislators and executive members for holding deliberations.

"Before coordination committee meet, deputy chief minister directly called up Vakil and asked him to attend the meeting," he said. "Vakil, who was in Delhi, was also told by the deputy chief minister that the party would arrange for his air ticket so that he is able to make it to the meeting."

Mir said that Vakil was also told that he would be air dashed to Kashmir in the state aircraft.

"Chowdhary Aslam, who was in Poonch, told me on phone that he would try to make it to the meeting, but he couldn't," he said.

Launching counter-offensive, Vakil belied the assertion of Congress unit chief and Mir that there was almost no time for having convened the party meeting. He said that the decision to hold the all-party meeting was announced a week before.

"There was ample time, but I fail to understand why they wished not to convene the party meeting," he said.

Referring to the three-member delegation of JKPCC which attended the all-party meet, Vakil said that it was very strange that the party chief did not bother to take along the representative of Kargil and Ladakh to the all-party meet.

Castigating the JKPCC office bearers, Vakil said that it has been over two-and-a-half year since executive committee meeting of the state Congress unit was convened.

"The fact is that JKPCC has never bothered to convene a meeting to discuss the important and sometimes controversial issues," he said. "Be it the issue of inter-district recruitment, controversy over the setting up of Central University, or controversial women disqualification bill, the state Congress unit has never bothered to seek the opinion of the party members."

Taking a dig at Vakil, a senior JKPCC leader said that Vakil had developed a dangerous habit of criticizing the party top brass for the heck of it.

"He (Vakil) never comes to office. He does not attend meetings even if he is invited," he said. "He and some of his other like-minded colleagues only go to the press and try to create dissention among Congress workers."

Dissidence and infighting within the ranks of JKPCC has been going on for long time now. The JKPCC office bearers have tried their best to brush aside the reports of internal bickering among rival groups in the party, but the animosity brewing in the party ranks has manifested itself in several forms.

Significantly, Azad has also distanced himself from the JKPCC chief, Saif-ud-Din Soz. Both the leaders had come face to face at Royal Spring Golf Course here in April this year, but they did not even greet each other or exchange a single word.

The months-long bitterness among rival groups in the party had got augmented after Soz decided to welcome elder son of commander of government-backed gunmen and one time legislator, Kuka Parray, into the party fold.

Vakil, who is considered very close to Azad, has been spewing venom against the JKPCC top brass, particularly against the state Congress chief.

The rivalry between Soz and Vakil is not something new. Vakil has often been at loggerheads with Soz on different issues. When Soz was catapulted to the helm of affairs of J&K-PCC, Vakil was not happy with the decision, and on more than one occasion he also publicly showed his displeasure.

Meanwhile, the statement issued by Vakil to the press was endorsed by several Congress leaders including, CLP leader and MLA (Surankote) Choudhary Mohammed Aslam, former MLC P. Namgyal (Leh), Haji Nisar (ex-minister), Gulchain Singh Charak (ex-minister), Suman Bhagat (ex-minister), Gharu Ram(ex-minister), Janak Raj Gupta (ex-Advisor to former CM), MLC Haji Ali Mohammed Bhat, MLC Jehangir Mir, MLC Subhash Gupta, MLA (Banihal) Viqar Rasool, MLA (Ramban) Ashok Kumar, MLC Naresh Gupta and ex-Mayor JMC Narinder Singh.

They said, in the statement, that height of autocracy can be gauged from the fact that neither the CLP leader nor Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand were taken into confidence before the crucial all-party meeting.

The leaders urged Congress president and UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi to take note of happenings in the Congress' state unit, and appealed Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and Congress General Secretary, Rahul Gandhi, to help the Congress party in J&K to come out of this "undemocratic and unconstitutional era".