National - Elections 2004   

Campaigning without leaders

Luv Puri

Jammu

In Jammu and Kashmir, with hardly a month left for the first phase of the polls to begin, the State Ministers are spending most of their time holding meetings with senior party functionaries leaving the smaller level functionaries to run the campaign on their own.

For the Congress-People's Democratic Party coalition government there is a lot at stake in the parliamentary elections, seen as a barometer of its performance.

The Civil Secretariat, where every day thousands of people throng to get their problems addressed, is nowadays conspicuous by the virtual absence of some key Ministers. The Deputy Chief Minister, Mangat Ram Sharma, has been hold up in Delhi holding consultations with the Congress leaders there.

The Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Finance Minister, Muzaffar Hussien Baig, has also not turned up in his office for several days. He is reportedly busy breaking the deadlock with the Congress on seat adjustments.

Says Shabir Ahmed, a Congress worker: "Without the leaders, the campaign does not evoke much response from the public. Although we are carrying on, the public wants to listen only to the leaders."

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