Cong leaders target Omar, say CM always ignored their issues *Oppose pre-poll alliance for Assembly elections JAMMU, July 5: In a major political development that clearly indicated that ruling coalition partners-National Conference and Congress were falling apart, top Congress leadership tonight directly blamed Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for ignoring the voice of local Congress leaders including the Ministers while maintaining direct liaison with Congress high command, leading to party debacle in the recent Parliament elections. The Congress leaders presented their view point before a high level committee headed by AK Antony, veteran Congress leader and former Defence Minister, set up by AICC (I) president Sonia Gandhi to go into the reasons of party’s poll debacle and evolve strategy to revive and strengthen the party with priority to those States going to Assembly elections shortly. The Congress leaders asserted that they should go it alone in the Assembly elections and project a Jammu leader as its Chief Ministerial candidate. The Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in November-December this year. Highly placed sources in the Congress told the Excelsior that they explained in detail to Antony Committee the reasons behind the Congress debacle in Lok Sabha elections in which all three party candidates including former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad lost to the BJP and strongly opposed any kind of pre-poll alliance with National Conference in the Assembly elections. The meeting between top brass of Jammu and Kashmir Congress leaders was held individually with Antony and his team comprising AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik and party secretaries RC Khuntia and Avinash Pandey at Rikabgunj Marg, New Delhi, where the Congress has set up its war room to revive and strengthen the party after debacle in the recent Parliament elections countrywide. The Congress leaders, who individually met the Antony Committee included Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Chief Minister, PCC (I) chief Prof Saif-ud- Din Soz, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Madan Lal Sharma, former MP, Urban Development Minister and MLA Leh Nawang Rigzin Jora, PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Sham Lal Sharma and Medical Education Minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din. Sources said the Congress leaders explained to the Antony Committee that they repeatedly raised the issues, which the party had promised to fulfill in its election manifesto and other issues dear to the Congress but Omar Abdullah “deliberately ignored” those issues. “We did raise our problems before the Chief Minister but instead of address them, Omar directly approached the Congress high command (a reference to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi with whom Omar enjoyed close rapport) and our issues were ignored,” they said and cited the example of the Congress commitment to solve problems of refugees and implement 73rd amendment of the Constitution of India in Jammu and Kashmir. They charged that the Chief Minister was adamant on the issue of refugees and despite a package for refugees having been approved by the Cabinet, it was not forwarded to the Centre. They told the Antony Panel that the Chief Minister refused to implement 73rd amendment in J&K for more than five years and later incorporated some of its provisions in Panchayati Raj Act. Asserting that the Congress should go it alone in the Assembly elections, the Congress leaders called for projecting Jammu leader as its Chief Ministerial candidates to improve party performance and regain its strength in Jammu and Kashmir, where Congress despite having 18 MLAs failed to win even a single Lok Sabha seat. They opined that if the Congress again went for pre-poll truck with the National Conference like Lok Sabha elections, the party would suffer badly. Explaining reasons for defeat of party candidates on two Lok Sabha seats of Jammu region, the Congress leaders told the high level committee that the party had fielded a weak candidate (Madan Lal Sharma) in Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat, who was facing anti-incumbency heat of being two time MP while in Udhampur- Doda Lok Sabha seat, they said, Azad lost due to August 9, 2013 Kishtwar violence, which polarized the voters completely. Further, they said, the nationwide factor of Narendra Modi and Congress failure to project the UPA Achievement also contributed to the party debacle in Lok Sabha elections. The meeting started at 7.15 pm and continued till late in the night as Antony led panel met senior Congress leaders from all three regions of the State-Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh individually to ascertain their view point for party’s defeat on all three Lok Sabha seats, which the Congress contested in alliance with National Conference and the measures to strengthen the party for upcoming Assembly elections in the State, which were due in November-December this year. PCC (I) chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz was the first to meet the committee followed by Urban Development Minister and Leh MLA Nawang Rigzin Jora. The Panel had called all three Congress candidates from Jammu and Kashmir, who lost the Lok Sabha elections including Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Union Minister (Udhampur-Doda seat), Madan Lal Sharma (Jammu-Poonch) and T Samphel (Ladakh). However, Samphel couldn’t visit New Delhi and was replaced by Jora. Sources said the high level Antony panel, which has to submit a detailed report to Sonia Gandhi explaining reasons for party’s defeat and steps required to strengthen it, had lengthy meeting with all party leaders and noted their view point. Prof Soz told the Excelsior on telephone from New Delhi that he has submitted roadmap to revive the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir for the Assembly elections and also gave reasons for party’s defeat in the Parliament election. He said the Congress candidates for the Assembly elections were also discussed in the meeting. “All aspects leading from party’s defeat in Parliament elections to strengthening the party to face Assembly elections in November-December were taken up in the meeting,” Prof Soz said. Sources said the Congress leaders said their alliance with National Conference in Lok Sabha elections failed to have any impact at ground level. “The votes of National Conference failed to Congress and similar was the situation with the NC, which didn’t Congress votes,” they added. The Congress leaders explained that UPA Government’s much popular scheme of Food Security Act has not been implemented by the State Government so far. The scheme would have benefited a lot of people, they observed. They stressed that party candidates for the polls should be declared well in advance so that they were given enough time to prepare for the electoral battle. Sources said the Congress high command was expected to finalize the party strategy for Assembly elections after receiving Antony Committee report. Meanwhile, prior to the Congress leaders meeting with the Antony Committee, AICC (I) general secretary, Incharge Jammu and Kashmir, Ambika Soni, Azad and Soz had a separate meeting to discuss the party strategy for the Assembly elections and apprised AICC (I) chief Sonia Gandhi about Jammu and Kashmir Congress leaders and workers stand that the party shouldn’t go for pre-poll alliance with the NC. Ambika Soni had held detailed meetings with party cadre in Kashmir recently to elicit their view point on party debacle in Lok Sabha elections and strategy for forthcoming Assembly elections.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 00:22:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015