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| Core Group within NC-- No member from ‘young brigade’ | | ‘Old guard’ entrusted with job of bridging gap with grass root workers | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, July 29:: Ruling National Conference in its Working Committee meeting held few days back came out with certain political resolutions, viewed mostly as rhetorical in the light of turbulent situation in Kashmir. But most important and the fresh decision taken in this high level meeting of the party was formation of Core Group intended to strengthen and salvage the party as also to revive it at the ground level, where the leadership felt they are losing the grip and contacts.
Sources said it was after a thorough introspection and on the basis of the feedback given by the senior party leaders about NC losing ground at the grass root level and waning support in many areas which prompted the High Command to take the decision of forming a Core Group comprising six veteran leaders from both the regions of the state. As desired by the High Command, mainly the party president Dr Farooq Abdullah, this Group to be led by the stalwart, Mohammad Shafi Uri, an MP would re establish contact with workers and supporters at the ground level on constant basis and subsequently based on their interaction and observation, they would give feedback to the president as well as the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah regularly. In other words, this Core Group will act as a bridge between party (from high command to second line and down the hierarchy) and the workers at the grass root level.
Sources in the day long meeting, while taking cognizance of what was almost said in unequivocal terms by a host of senior leaders, the realization dawned upon the High Command that NC which is oldest and only cadre based regional party in the state of late had become weak with little or no contacts between the leadership and the workers on grass root level. Since strong and committed cadres at the ground level is the only thing that gives NC edge over rivals when it comes to differentiating the positives and negative points, the NC High Command among other things prioritized formation of Core Group for the purpose of rejuvenating workers and establishing contacts with them on regular basis, sources said. The Group has three senior members from Kashmir Valley- Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Sheikh Ghulam Rasool and Mehboob Beigh and two members from Jammu province- Ajay Sadhotra and Khalid Najib Sohrawardy(Doda).
So far so good. Apparently a well intended move to salvage the party from further damage at the ground level, which in fact no political party can afford. But the interesting part of the move remains that all the members of the Core group are from ‘old guard’, implying those having loyalty and allegiance towards Dr Farooq Abdullah. Not a single member from the ‘young brigade’ has found place in this supposedly a very serious and responsible assignment to be delivered with a sense of complete commitment and conviction. As it goes without saying, the party of late has seen emergence of a new cult of leaders, who would ‘appropriately’ be liked to be categorized as ‘young brigade’ by those patronizing these new leaders. It is also no secret that the old guard, comprising senior, experienced and seasoned leaders fall in a lobby which is being associated with Dr Farooq and the young brigade which has some new faces and young leaders are largely categorized in the lobby which has loyalty and association more with junior Abdullah.
There is friction and distance between the two lobbies for apparent reasons . Omar Abdullah may well be right in his perspective of grooming up the new leadership and infusing young blood, energy in the party as a long term strategy but the grapevine also suggests that with junior Abdullah at the helm and in control of most of the things, the old guard has felt alienated and sidelined in the face of some young and fresh faces ‘running the affairs’ of the party at different levels. This strategy has apparently , as of now not yielded any positive results. In fact the senior and seasoned have conveniently distanced themselves from the routine matters, leave alone the areas and assignments where they should have focused. Therefore , the present crisis of waning support because of losing contacts at the ground level, partly caused due to this sharp divide, though not factions, within the party. Needless to say this divide has also had a telling impact on the administration and many matters of governance.
Now, with the formation of this Core group, indications are loud and clear that the wit and grit of Dr Farooq Abdullah still runs at least in managing the party affairs. The formation of the Group also might be seen politically as a desperate attempt to salvage the party from further damage and consolidate it at all levels in the light of its receding contacts at grass root level. But the fact also remains the responsibility of this task has been entrusted by Dr Farooq Abdullah on his ‘trusted’ brigade. It remains to be seen whether the Core Group remains successful or faces resistance of ‘interference’ in accomplishment of this task.
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