NC, PDP hobnobbing with Cong

Syed Ali Safvi

JAMMU, Dec 27: After sensing that they may fall short of getting simple majority in the 87-member House, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC) have started lobbying in New Delhi for Congress support. According to sources, NC and PDP high command met with many senior Congress leaders to garner the party support to cobble a coalition government. Both PDP and NC have powerful lobbies in the Congress high command.

The father-son duo of Farooq and Omar were in New Delhi on Friday, and they are believed to have met with the Congress high command to discuss possibilities of forming next coalition government in the state. It is widely believed that no party will be able to reach anywhere near the half way mark of 44 in the 87-member House. However, PDP and BJP may increase their seats in Kashmir and Jammu, respectively.

The Congress high command seems to be in a fix. However, it has kept all options open. The party sources maintain that "the party high command will decide about the possible alliance once the poll results are declared". Sources added that Congress high command was more concerned about the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. Majority of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) leaders were not in favour of PDP-Congress alliance as they believed that such a move would hamper Congress' image in Jammu and the party may have to face the music in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

Some PCC leaders maintain that NC would be a better bet for Congress than PDP. After the break up of PDP-Congress' 'marriage of inconvenience' over Amarnath land row, NC-Congress coalition looked well on cards, but the statement of external affairs minister, Pranab Mukherjee had taken political pundits by surprise. During his visit to Kashmir, Mukherjee at a press conference on Dec 16 had hinted at the post poll Cong-PDP alliance.

Highly placed sources in Congress revealed that former chief minister and senior Congress leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad was keen to form alliance with NC. After the land transfer fiasco consumed the Azad-led Congress government, he distanced himself from PDP leadership. It is widely believed that Azad shares a healthy relationship with NC patron. In 2002, Azad had reportedly preferred alliance with NC, but "he was reined in by Congress (I) president" that time. Earlier in August, New Delhi had convened a meeting with PDP patron, Mufti Sayeed to seek his support following the agreement between the state government and Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (SAYSS) over Amarnath land row, which PDP had termed as "unilateral". The meeting, as expected, could not break any ice. After failing to get PDP support, the honchos in New Delhi then turned to NC bigwigs to seek their support, and the party did not disappoint them.

In September this year, Farooq and Omar had a one-hour long meeting with the Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and external affairs minister, Pranab Mukherjee that sparked off speculations that the Congress high command and the Abdullahs may have entered into some kind of agreement. Congress, on the other hand, is also riding high on support of smaller parties like Ghulam Hassan Mir's Democratic Party Nationalist (DPN) and Hakeem Mohammad Yasin's Peoples Democratic Front (PDF).

The Congress and NC have forged alliance in the past, but every time the alliance has ended on a bitter note. On November 13, 1974 Sheikh Abdullah and Indira Gandhi signed the Kashmir Accord (Beg-Parthasarthy Accord). On February 25, 1975 Sheikh Abdullah took over as the chief minister with Congress' support, a day after NC leaders reiterated that "J&K's accession to India was final". The alliance, however, lasted only 2 years and 21 days. On 16 March, 1977 Congress withdrew support to NC and the next day assembly was dissolved and governor's rule imposed. On July 2, 1984 Ghulam Muhammad Shah toppled NC government with Congress' support, and became the chief minister. This further strained the relations between NC and Congress. Shah formed National Conference (Khalida), which was later (in May, 1985) renamed as Awami National Conference (ANC). However, on March 7, 1986 GM Shah was dismissed and once again Governor's rule was imposed. On November 7, 1986 the two estranged parties again came together and formed a coalition government following Rajiv-Farooq accord. In 1977 and 1983 elections the main contest was between Congress and NC, but in 1987 assembly elections, both the parties had forged an alliance and were fighting on the same side. On March 25, 1987 NC-Congress coalition government was formed.

http://www.kashmirtimes.com/