What the National Conference-Congress Rift Reveals About J&K's Political Future |
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Srinagar: The cracks between National Conference (NC) and the Congress appear to be deepening after the latter was snubbed from a key performance review meeting convened by the elected government at the picturesque national park on the outskirts of the summer capital Srinagar.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday (June 3) convened a key meeting in Srinagar to deliberate on legislative strategies and public welfare. Apart from taking stock of the work done in the past one and a half year, the party also decided to hold a protest at Jantar Mantar on the opening day of the parliament’s Monsoon Session to press for the restoration of full statehood and constitutional guarantees for Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the six Congress MLAs supporting the government were left off the guest list. Abdullah had specifically restricted the invitation list to his own 41 party MLAs and five supporting independent lawmakers.
The deliberate omission of the six Congress MLAs has further fuelled political buzz, that cracks between NC and Congress have widened.
Speaking to The Wire, president of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Tariq Hamid Karra said that the onus for sustaining the alliance lies with the NC.
“We [Congress] have been repeatedly reminded that we have only six MLAs in the assembly. But they [NC] must understand that we still play a significant role in the government. Coming out of the alliance would create a survival issue for the government,” said Karra, who serves as a legislature for the Central Shalteng constituency in Srinagar
“I represent 150 parliamentarians (in Lok Sabha and Raj Sabha) and around 700 to 800 MLAs across the country. So, people shouldn’t measure us just by our strength in the J&K assembly.”
The latest rift took place when Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti wrote an open letter to NC, Congress and also to the BJP, calling for a joint front to engage with New Delhi.
In a letter, Mufti called for “Ladakh-like united outreach to the Prime Minister (PM) and Home Minister (HM) to initiate a sustained dialogue with the people of J&K.” However,........