NC on a sticky wicket in Ganderbal; Uphill task for PDP Internal wrangling may throw up surprises HAROON MIRANI/SHEIKH NAZIR Ganderbal, Nov 9: The National Conference might have handed over its traditional fort Ganderbal to ex-Congress leader Ishfaq Jabbar, but it’s not going to be a cakewalk for the ruling party in the constituency in the upcoming Assembly elections beginning November 25. According to residents of Ganderbal—the winning turf for Abdullahs for over three decades—the Assembly elections this time “won’t be the same story” for the party which has fielded Ishfaq from here. Ishfaq, they say, faces an uphill task to retain the traditional party voters who are “suspicious” of his erstwhile association with Congress and his fighting the Assembly elections against Omar in 2008 from here. Riding on anti-Qazi Afzal wave, Ishfaq had then secured over 8000 votes to emerge as third runner-up. Omar emerged victorious then followed by Afzal of PDP. NC’s traditional base in Ganderbal is Shalpathri area where it faces erosion of voters from Sheikh Ghulam Ahmad Saloora who quit the party last year. Saloora is on record saying that his “single mission is to defeat NC.” “He is deep into revenge politics now. He feels NC kicked him out of Nawa-i-Subh complex and gave his post to others despite giving 29 years of his life to the party,” said one of his confidantes. Saloora, according to locals, has been canvassing extensively in Sherpathri, Shallabugh and Sendbal areas for over a year now and at times “succeeding in appealing to number of voters.” He is also banking on support from his large ‘Sheikh Clan’ as well as “potential deserters” from supporters of ex-NC MLC Sheikh Ghulam Rasool who recently joined the Peoples Democratic Party. On the other hand, PDP’s candidate for Ganderbal is Qazi Afzal. The party’s activities on ground are however missing which is evident from few or no political meetings organized by Afzal here, this time around. Another candidate in Ganderbal is Muhammad Yousuf Bhat of Congress. According to locals, Bhat—the former NC worker—would surely encroach upon NC turfs in Repora and Lar. Bhat, they say, also exhibits a degree of political vengeance after feeling betrayed at the hands of his parent party, National Conference. The total number of voters in the assembly segment is 90,573. Since the last assembly elections in 2008, there has been an increase of more than 24000 voters, mostly youth. The situation in Ganderbal is very precarious as of now. “We can have either Afzal or Ishfaq getting first or second position and Saloora and Bhat stand equal chance for third and fourth positions,” said a resident of Ganderbal. “People are confused whether to give Afzal another chance or elect Ishfaq as the first time MLA.” What is adding to this precariousness is the multitude of candidates who would weigh down heavily on both NC and PDP. From Lar block alone, five candidates are in the poll fray. Three leaders from Peoples Conference, Congress and Awami Ittehad Party could also cut into the vote share of Afzal and Ishfaq. And what has lately compounded the problem for NC is Omar Abdullah’s quitting Ganderbal for Ishfaq. “Omar or any member of Abdullah family was a rallying point for the party supporters but now they feel abandoned,” said Altaf Ahmad, a long-time supporter of NC. The coming elections would be the first time when nobody from Abdullah family would be contesting from here. Omar’s grandfather Sheikh Abdullah first contested from Ganderbal in 1975 following the Indira-Abdullah Accord. Then Farooq Abdullah successfully won the polls here in 1983, 1987 and 1996. Omar won the elections in 2008, defeating Qazi Muhammad Afzal—the then forest minister in PDP Government.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 16:40:49 +0000
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