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Congress’ Jammu and Kashmir leaders in Delhi amid bickering in local unit
Congress high command summons Jammu and Kashmir leaders to discuss assembly polls prep amid internal bickerings. Opposition alliance issues also discussed.
The Congress high command has summoned the top Jammu and Kashmir leaders to New Delhi to discuss preparation for the impending assembly polls. The move comes amid internal bickerings over the leadership of local unit president Vikar Rasool.
In the recently held Lok Sabha polls, Congress contested from two seats Jammu and Udhampur and left the three falling under Kashmir seats — Anantnag, Srinagar and Baramulla — for its alliance partner National Conference (NC) as part of seat-sharing arrangements of the Opposition India bloc.
While the NC managed to win two of three seats it contested, Congress drew a blank in Jammu. The party took solace in the reduced margin of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidates in both Udhampur and Jammu.
“Since assembly polls are around the corner, the party high command has called around 20 senior leaders including party president Vikar Rasool, Tariq Hameed Karra and Ghulam Ahmad Mir for consultation in New Delhi. The delegation will hold meetings with Congress president Mallikarjun Khargee and member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi and other senior party functionaries,” Congress senior vice-president Ghulam Nabi Monga said.
”The delegations of leaders from Maharashtra and Jharkhand, two states which also go to polls in the coming months, will hold meetings with the party high command first. The meeting is for galvanising the party’s local leadership,” he added.
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had during his visit to Srinagar said preparations for assembly elections had already begun. He had also praised the voters in Kashmir for their record participation in the Lok Sabha polls.
The ECI has started electoral revision of voters in Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
In the last assembly elections, Congress had won 12 seats in the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state, while also comprised Ladakh. The two have since become separate union territories. Ten of Congress’ seats came from Jammu and Kashmir and two from Ladakh.
After delimitation, the number of seats in Jammu and Kashmir has gone up to 90 seats.
“We will do very well in the assembly polls. The party’s performance in the Lok Sabha polls has encouraged our cadres and leaders which will give us an edge over our rivals,” Monga said.
Section of leaders
seek change of guard
A section of party leaders, meanwhile, have written a letter to the party high command demanding a change of guard in the local leadership. The leaders aren’t happy with the functioning of the Jammu and Kashmir unit president, with sources saying there was a possibility that the letter, which carries signatures from dozens of senior and junior party leaders, will also be discussed in the meeting with the party high command.
“We have serious issues in the Jammu and Kashmir unit. Unless those get resolved, the party cannot show good results in the assembly polls,” a Congress leader who has signed the letter said.
Monga, however, dismissed the bickering as a minor issue. “This issue is not very big and will not be discussed in the party meeting with high command. Maybe a few leaders are annoyed with the president due to some grudges. The party stands united and will perform well.”
Factions have existed within the Congress’ local unit from the early 80s. There were hopes of the divisions ending after Mufti Mohammad Sayeed left the party to form the Peoples Democratic Party.
However, two camps again emerged within the party — one led by former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and another by former Union minister Saifudin Soz. Azad also quit and formed his party in 2022. Two years on, Congress faces another challenge with leaders said to be close to the top party leadership questioning Rasool’s role as president.
