Is collapse imminent?

Ripples In The Alliance Are Not Real COALITION By J.H.Reshi Congress and National Conference forged an alliance in the state immediately after the results of last assembly elections were declared. It had been made clear at the very outset that there will be no rotation of the chief Minster in the state. But the government will complete its full term of six years under the leadership of Omar Abdullah alone. Some disgruntled Congress leaders like Mangat Ram Sharma have now begun to raise a banner of revolt and are demanding sharing of the post of CM for the remaining three years. Their demand needs not to be taken too
seriously as we all know what matters in the end is what policy is dictated by the centre and nothing else.
Omar Abdullah has seen the worst of his time and survived. Otherwise he could have easily made an exit during the most crucial months of the turmoil in the valley. As far as these two coalition partners are concerned there is indeed an inherent conflict of interests in the two parties. They have their respective basis in two different regions of the state. Whenever Congress sees any possible uprising of Sang Parivar in the Jammu region they try to assert themselves and woe to safe guard the interests of that region. On the other hand when National Conference sees it base is eroding in the valley they resort to making rhetoric statements and reviving the age old slogans.
Congress in the state is of course a divided house as there is a constant tussle going on between the two major factions right now. One faction thereof owes its allegiance to Saif-ul-Din Soz who is at present chief of the party in the state and the other is led by Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad who is right now union health minister. As far as Gh. Nabi Azad is concerned he is a party stalwart of long standing. He has a deep rooted base in the party and commands respect at all levels. While as Saif-ul-din Soz in comparison is considered as a newcomer and an outsider but is banking upon having helped Congress to bring down BJP government at the centre. Azad at present is comfortably placed as far as his position in the party and government at centre is concerned so he will not be interested returning to the state where from he had to leave amid a political crisis. However Saif-ul-din Soz is not seemingly contend with his present status but wants some kind of share in the political power sooner or later. Which he at present is finding lacking in his status as Pradesh Congress president due
to the overwhelming influence, Mr. Azad is having in the party at all ranks and levels.
National conference however has no such problem as both its leaders Omar Abdullah and Dr.Farooq Abdullah are well placed and would not be interested in destabilizing each other for any reason whatsoever. Dr.Farooq at no stage would to try to weaken his son whom he
has willingly and openly chosen as his heir apparent and political successor. They at one point of time were ready to swap places with each other when BJP had insisted on giving the reins of power in the state to some old guard to take the state out of the crisis which they blamed was mainly governance deficit in the state. But this attempt came to be foiled by Mr. Rahul Gandhi who extended open support to Omar Abdullah by saying that the young chief minster needs to be given time and Farooq Abdullah persuaded his son to stay on and not to resign otherwise no one at that point of time would clinch to the power.
Coalition no doubt needs an overhaul to make it more vibrant and effective. But no one is ready to step down and make a room for another or make sacrifice of any nature for the sake of party or others. They all want to want to stick to their respective places and positions they have come to occupy one way or the other. Corruption and corrupt practices being practiced by some of them are bringing bad name to both the parties which Omar Abdullah is unable to curb or discourage for obvious reasons. They are in fact competing with each other on this score and if the situation is allowed to remain like this and no action whatsoever is taken both the parties shall have to pay a heavy price for not doing enough about it at an appropriate time.
PDP which has emerged as a force to reckon with in the state’s political area for past few years is watching the situation with keen interest and may try to widen the rift between National Conference and Congress in the state to their advantage. They are not hopeful about any prospect of change of government in the state in the given situation but what they really want is that this tussle of power between the present coalition partners goes on so that they can consolidate their ever growing vote base in the state.
However Congress high command knows pretty well they cannot afford to destabilize the state government at this stage. Therefore any kind of revolt will be curbed with full force in the name of interest of the nation as a whole. Government in the state has come through a disaster so will be given a chance to prove its worth but if it fails to mend its ways it is bound to be grounded without any cry or sympathy.
(J.H.Reshi is a practicing lawyers at J & K High Court and a freelance writer. Feedback at j.h.reshi@gmail.com)

Do you Like this story..?

Get Free Email Updates Daily!	Follow us!