SRINAGAR, Sep 16: Dust seems to have settled to some extent in the coalition government camp after the recent political storm in cold desert of Kargil Today the newly elected councilors of the 26-member Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Kargil took oath of office. District and sessions judge, Tahir Khursheed Raina, administered the oath to the councilors. Election of the chief executive councilor (CEC) is scheduled for tomorrow. Asghar Karbalai of Congress is likely to be elected as the CEC. However, NC councillors seem unhappy. Congress had won 10 seats. NC and its allies had emerged victorious in 11 seats. Congress claims the support of five elected independents. A major controversy was triggered off when NC nominated four councillors from the party to almost equalise the number with Congress. Congress reacted strongly and demanded that NC must withdraw the nominations as those are illegal. However, during a recent coordination committee meeting of the NC and Congress here it was decided that the nominated councillors would continue in the council but cannot have voting right. The coordination committee also decided that Congress will form the LAHDC Kargil. Formation of LAHDC Kargil by Congress can surely be an achievement for the party and not a good sign for National Conference (NC). With Lok Sabha elections due early next year and assembly polls later, the developments in Kargil are going to shape up the changing political scenario in the state. Reports from Kagil suggest that ouster of NC leader Qamar Ali Akhoon from the cabinet and infighting in NC led to party losing the political battle to its coalition partner. If the reports are to be believed then Asghar Karbalai may later contest the Lok Sabha polls as well. The suspense over the outcome of Lok Sabha elections at national level has also started increasing the dilemma among the political parties in Jammu and Kashmir regarding future of coalition partners (in case no party gets an absolute majority in assembly polls). Because of this quandary, NC and Congress have begun showing signs of drifting away. BJP has formally projected Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. Congress is yet to project Rahul Gandhi. As per reports, the party was to install Rahul as prime minister a year before Lok Sabha polls. But this could not happen. Now Congress is running short of time to nominate him as a candidate for the post of prime minister. NC is fully aware about the Congress difficulties at national level and that is why its every step towards its coalition partner is guarded now. Right now both NC and Congress are busy strengthening their own party cadres in the entire state to get maximium number of seats in assembly elections. Congress had started this exercise more seriously after the re-appointment of Prof Saif- u-Din Soz as the PCC president. Soz has been saying that his party will emerge as the single largest party in the assembly and that it will play an important role in the formation of next government. His belief has got further strengthened after Congress’s victory in Kargil. Earlier, the victory of Congress backed candidates in large number in Panchayat polls had proved a morale booster for the PCC chief. Sources close to him say that he can be also a contender for the post of chief minister in case Congress really emerged as single largest party. On the other hand, union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, is also keen to become chief minister of the state again. He recently claimed in Kishtwar that people want to see him as the chief minister again, but “I do not want to disturb Omar Abdullah and I wish to support him till he completes his full term.” Azad during his term as chief minister in 2008 had got more focused in sidelining and weakening the then other coalition partner PDP. His coming closer to the pro-active governor Lt Gen S K Sinha at that time had led to an uneven political situation. Later, the Amarnath land row and collapse of his government saw Azad returning to New Delhi. Interestingly, both Azad and Soz preferred not to adopt a hostile attitude towards the main opposition party, PDP, for last several years. The entire anti-PDP bashing is done by NC only particularly by Abdullahs. Once keen to hold assembly elections simultaneously with Lok Sabh polls, NC is very eager to complete the full term in government now. In the backdrop of series of civilian unrest and subsequent killings and no forward movement on much hyped AFSPA issue, NC would like to fish in the troubled waters of election with same old and new combination. The younger lot which seemed very desperate earlier to push out the old faces has realised that their presence is a must if power is to be regained.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 09:27:26 +0000