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| Caught in Catch 22 situation Congress may announce GN Azad as CM candidate | | | Jehangir Rashid
SRINAGAR, July 10: Caught in a Catch 22 situation the Congress party is in a fix whether to name the Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming Assembly elections. This is despite the fact that majority of local leaders want this to be done.
Sources told Early Times that Congress party is eyeing the Doda-Kishtwar belt for getting maximum seats in the Assembly elections. Given this scenario most of the leaders opine that it would be good for the party if former Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad is projected as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the party.
"In the recent past Doda-Kishtwar belt has chosen Congress candidates and this time around too the party is focusing their attention towards this area. Since Azad comes from the Doda-Kishtwar belt it is quite possible that he might be projected as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the party," said sources.
Sources said that if Azad is not projected as Chief Ministerial candidate then there are chances that Congress might lose some seats from the area. It is quite possible that these seats may go in the kitty of People’s Democratic Party, Bharatiya Janta Party and to some extent National Conference.
"There is no face other than Azad from the Jammu region who can be projected as Congress party's Chief Ministerial candidate. Same is the tale with respect to the leaders coming from the Kashmir region of the state. Azad is somewhat acceptable to the people of Kashmir and Jammu as such he may get the green signal as far as projection of Chief Ministerial candidate of party is concerned," said sources.
Having faced drubbing in the Parliamentary elections in the Jammu region, Congress wants to retain as many seats as possible in the next Assembly. However, it would be very difficult to get the requisite numbers as BJP has made serious inroads in the Jammu division. Traditional strongholds of Congress are being looked upon by BJP as their bastions now.
"Although, Congress does not believe in projecting a Prime Ministerial candidate or Chief Ministerial candidate this time around they would have to alter their rules. They would have to name somebody as Chief Ministerial candidate and the ground situation suggests that Azad may be asked to don this mantle for the party. The picture would become clear in the coming days with the final decision being taken by Congress President, Sonia Gandhi and her close confidantes," said sources.
As Azad enjoys very good rapport with Congress President and the working committee members it is quite possible that he may be projected as Chief Ministerial candidate of the party. But before that he would have to resign as leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha.
It would be in place to mention here that Azad served as Chief Minister of the state from November 2005 to July 2008. His stint as CM got ended when PDP withdrew support to the Congress following controversy over the Amarnath Land transfer row that engulfed the entire state. |
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