Other States   

J&K Congress factionalism comes out in the open

SRINAGAR: Factionalism in the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee has come out in the open, with two candidates filing nominations for a Legislative Council seat falling vacant in April.

In all, six Legislative Council members are retiring, and 16 candidates have filed nominations to fill the vacancies.

Even the two main coalition partners, the National Conference and the Congress, are yet to reach an agreement to ensure the victory of their candidates in at least five seats.

With the Opposition People's Democratic Party putting up Mohammad Ashraf Mir for one seat in the Kashmir Valley, two are likely to be taken by the coalition.

However, one Congress faction, led by PCC chief Saifuddin Soz, is at loggerheads with the other, led by Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Senior leader Ghulam Nabi Monga of the Soz faction and the former Minister, Abdul Gani Vakil, owing allegiance Mr. Azad, have filed papers for the seat.

While the Soz faction insists that Mr. Monga's candidature was finalised by the leadership in Delhi with the support of the rank and file, the Azad faction says, “The Congress high command has given green signal for Mr. Vakil's candidature as well.”

Informed sources said Congress leaders met at the PCC headquarters on Thursday and threw their weight behind Mr. Monga.

No leader from any of the factions was ready to speak on record, but they are worried about the prospects of neither candidate withdrawing by April 2, last date for withdrawal of nominations.

For the three seats in the Valley, the two Congress candidates have staked a claim, and for the rest, two National Conference candidates have filed the papers.

For one reserved seat in Poonch, the Congress has re-nominated Jehangir Mir, but the National Conference has fielded Shehnaz Ganai, a young doctor from the area.

There are now seven candidates for three vacancies: Mohammad Ashraf Mir of the PDP, Bashir Ahmed Shah Veeri and Dharamvir Singh Oberai of the NC, Abdul Gani Vakil and Ghulam Nabi Monga of the Congress, Mohammad Maqbool War of the BJP and Abdul Gani Sofi, Independent.

For two unreserved seats of the Jammu division, there are five contestants: Master Noor Hussain of the NC, Yashpal Khajuria of the Congress, Fakeer Nath of the National Panthers Party, Satish Kumar of the BJP and Bharat Bhushan of the PDP. In addition, the Panthers Party has fielded Mohammad Saleem and the BJP has put up Ranjit Singh.

The sources told The Hindu that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Mr. Soz were likely to meet to strike a deal on seat-sharing. Thereafter, the additional candidates would be asked to withdraw. But as for the two Congress candidates for the Valley, the decision rests with party president Sonia Gandhi.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Colours of nature
Training programme for Haryana MLAs
At centre of controversy
Inside Guwahati
Meghalaya braces for disaster management
Rahul Gandhi sends emissary to meet fasting Uttarakhand MLA
Arunachal launches innovative project for better governance
Bihar MLAs' salaries and allowances hiked
Trinamool candidate alleges attack
Anoop Mishra takes charge
JPCC chief, MLA held
Authentication of CDs sought in Gulberg Society case
Gogoi's former press adviser killed
J&K Congress factionalism comes out in the open

Copyright © 2011, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu