* NC to convene party’s core group meeting
SYED ALI SAFVI
SRINAGAR, Jan 1: Days after state Congress unit demanded change of guard in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference (NC) today asserted that chief minister, Omar Abdullah, would continue to hold the office for full term of six years.
Widening divisions within the NC-Congress coalition have forced the leadership of both the ruling parties to call for emergency meetings to resolve their differences. Meanwhile, according to reports, central high command has also decided to summon the top leadership of both the parties to New Delhi to discuss a way out of the problem.
NC has refused to entertain any move aimed at changing the power sharing deal with the Congress high command.
According to the party insiders, NC is convening a core group meeting to discuss the new strategy, which would be adopted to mitigate the differences within the coalition.
Even as NC is adamant about continuing with Omar as CM, Congress is taking a tough stand regarding change of guard in the state. The party leadership, according to sources, is demanding that National Conference should hold office of the chief minister only for three years.
Pertinently, former deputy chief minister and senior Congress leader, Mangat Ram Sharma, had on December 28 had demanded rotation of chief ministerial post. Sharma, who is also the member of Coordination Committee of the coalition, said this in presence of JKPCC president, Prof Saifuddin Soz. Sharma’s statement further fanned the divisive flames of NC-Congress coalition.
Miffed at Sharma’s “senseless” statement, senior NC leader, Dr Mustafa Kamal, said that as per the agreement between NC and Congress high command, NC would hold office of the chief minister for full six years term.
According to reports, most of the Congress leaders in Kashmir and Jammu were of the opinion that Congress would lose its support base if it allowed NC to hold office of the CM for full term.
They complained that NC leadership was not entertaining the demands of Congress workers.
The Congress high command’s silence over Sharma’s statement has not gone down well with NC, which alleged that Congress was trying to break its own promise.
Amid all the political drama over change of guard, NC today said that the coalition would complete its full term with Omar Abdullah as chief minister.
Former minister and senior NC leader, Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, told a local news agency that statements of Sharma and Kamal were not going to affect the working of the coalition.
“As far as chief minister’s term is concerned, the Congress high command is bound by its promise and any kind of change will not be acceptable to National Conference leadership,” he said.
According to sources, NC has decided to convene the party’s core group meeting to discuss the present situation and chalk out the future strategy of the party.
Meanwhile, in the wake of present crisis within the coalition government, Congress high command has also decided to summon top leadership of NC and JKPCC to mitigate their differences.
The reports also said that the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, were in favour of continuing with Omar as the state’s chief minster for full term.
Significantly, unlike the previous Congress-PDP setup, Congress high command had while entering into power sharing pact with NC in January 2009 said that there would be no rotation of chief ministership and Omar Abdullah would hold the office for full six-year term.
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