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Kashmir Congress infighting reaches new high
Friday February 03, 2012 12:36:09 PM,
Sheikh Qayoom, IANS
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Srinagar: A bitter war
of attrition between two senior Congress leaders has exposed major
chinks in the party's Jammu and Kashmir unit which continues to
remain faction-ridden.
Abdul Gani Vakil, former minister and senior Congress leader from
north Kashmir's Baramulla district, has locked horns with senior
party leader and Public Health Engineering Minister, Taj Mohiuddin.
Vakil and Taj have been making statements against each other
claiming to be acting on the guidelines of Congress president
Sonia Gandhi and her son, party general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
"I am acting under the guidelines of Soniaji and Rahulji who want
to expose corruption at every level, including that within the
party. Taj Mohiuddin has been indulging in rampant corruption,
bringing in a bad name to the party," Vakil has been publicly
alleging.
Taj maintains that Vakil is on his way out.
"He will soon be expelled from the party for indiscipline," Taj
has told reporters in his reaction to Vakil's allegations.
Taj even said Vakil had been approaching him for favours which the
minister had declined.
The bad news for the faction-ridden party is that internal
bickering and mudslinging have now reached another senior party
leader and Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand.
Vakil has threatened to approach the state accountability
commission to expose what he calls gross instances of nepotism and
corruption in the departments headed by Tara Chand.
The state Congress has been faction-ridden ever since Ghulam Nabi
Azad, the union health minister, left the state after vacating the
chief minister's post to avoid seeking a vote of confidence in the
state assembly in 2008. The party is vertically divided into those
who support Azad and those who support Saifuddin Soz, president of
the party's state unit and former union minister.
Senior Congress ministers brook no discretion while stating their
loyalties to either Azad or Soz at party meetings.
The bickering within the Congress is also affecting governance by
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who belongs to the National
Conference and formed a ruling alliance with the Congress after
the 2008 state assembly elections.
It is common knowledge in the state that while Azad supports Omar
to the hilt, Soz is less favourably disposed towards the chief
minister.
During the last six months when demands of rotating the chief
minister's post were being raised within the Congress party, the
orchestration was mainly done by the supporters of Soz.
The Congress national leadership had made it clear while working
out the terms of alliance with the National Conference in 2008
that Omar would be chief minister for the complete six-year term
of the assembly.
While the party national leadership would not allow the bickering
to go beyond a certain point, already the image of the party and
the efficiency of its ministers to deliver have taken a serious
beating in the state.
All is not well with the Congress in the state and the war of
attrition is slowly, but steadily reaching a deafening crescendo.
(Sheikh Qayoom can be contacted at sheikh.abdul@ians.in)
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