by Yawar Hussain
SRINAGAR: The storm hit Jammu and Kashmir Congress is battling another internal feud with the high command appointing new Joint Secretary Manoj Yadav to rein in the newly appointed President Viqar Rasool.
Sources in the party said that Yadav, who has been attached to Jammu and Kashmir in-charge Rajani Patil, was appointed after an e-mail was sent from the state unit to the party president Sonia Gandhi alleging that Pradesh Congress Committee member posts, which had fallen vacant post-Ghulam Nabi Azad’s exit, are being filled up by Viqar Rasool without consulting senior leaders including Tariq Hameed Karra and Ghulam Ahmad Mir.
The problem arose when the list of 339 Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) members, forwarded by former President Ghulam Ahmad Mir for AICC President Election, was sent back from Delhi after some 50 odd PCC members had left the party with Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The list was received by incumbent PCC President Viqar Rasool with the task of identifying the PCC members who had left. Subsequently, the J&K PCC then identified 100 more leaders who were on a sticky wicket.
Sources said that there were only 190 loyal PCC members left but Viqar Rasool started filling up the rest of the 149 with his own people who didn’t fulfil the criteria for being PCC members.
When General Secretary AICC Organisational Affairs, KC Venugopal asked for the list, which was to be forwarded to the AICC election committee, the state unit sent Viqar’s list.
However, sources said, an email to AICC interim President Sonia Gandhi and a phone call to aspiring AICC Presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor created an uproar.
Mrs Gandhi called up Venugopal, who as per the email knew about the background of the new list, asking him to get the Jammu and Kashmir house in order, a party leader privy to the developments said.
“Shashi Tharoor called up Mrs Gandhi (Sonia) informing her that the J&K PCC has been filled with people having no qualification for the member posts. The reaction was immediate but knee-jerk. Manoj Yadav was brought in but Rajani Patil, who had ratified Viqar’s list, wasn’t removed,” the leader added.
The leader said that Tariq Hameed Karra and Ghulam Ahmad Mir had protested against the new list but it was still finalised by Viqar and Patil keeping the latter duo out of the frame.
The bickering in the Jammu and Kashmir Congress was also triggered by the appointment of two interim district presidents by President Viqar Rasool who, as per sources, are his close associates from the time when he was a minister in the Omar Abdullah-led coalition government.
Viqar Rasool appointed Muzzafar Dar as interim District President Budgam and Imtiyaz Khan as interim District President Srinagar.
A senior leader said that the decision was taken without consulting Mir and Karra, who didn’t speak against it for keeping the already battered party intact. “In the meeting called to discuss the new district presidents, these names weren’t approved but soon the orders came out with the consent of Patil,” informed sources said.
Sources in the party said that Karra was the front runner for the J&K Congress President’s post with Mir’s backing but the high command, under Patil’s and Venugopal’s advice, surprised everyone with Viqar’s name.
Smear Campaign?
While Ghulam Nabi Azad has left the party but the politics around him hasn’t left it. A behind-the-curtain campaign has been launched by new factions accusing each other, in hushed tones, of being Azad’s men in the party.
A Viqar Rasool rival leader alleged that he (Viqar) is Azad’s man with a mission to keep the J&K Congress bogged down rather than rebuilding up.
“We have credible input that he might leave with all the district presidents who he is appointing to join the Azad group so that Congress remains on crutches. The timing would be decided by Azad,” the leader alleged.
The allegations of being the Azad’s man stem from the association between the duo with Viqar being an Azad loyalist till the latter left the party. Also, Ghulam Nabi Azad, in an interview with a national channel said that Viqar was the first one to support his idea of a new party.
“What to say of others even newly appointed J&K Congress chief was first among all who asked me to quit the party and form a regional party to provide an alternative in Jammu and Kashmir,” Azad said, adding¸ “Vikar Rasool Wani was the most vocal among all leaders who were asking me to quit the Congress and form a new party.”
Viqar, it is worth mentioning here, told Kashmir Life earlier that he had met Azad in Delhi after he was appointed PCC Chief and his leader gave him no idea about his resignation. “Had he dropped a hint, I would have informed the High Command and the situation could have been saved,” Viqar Rasool said.
The campaign doesn’t just end at Viqar. With a vacuum created in the organisation post Azad-led exodus, many leaders want to grab the party posts available. However, in order to bring down a foe, they are busy branding each other as Azad’s men.
Office Politics
Viqar, a Muslim leader from Chenab valley, is new to both Srinagar and Jammu cities. The office staff at the Saheedi Chowk office in Jammu is more inclined towards Bhalla, the working president. In Srinagar the office staff from Saif-ud-Din Soz and Ghulam Ahmad Mir eras isn’t welcoming of Viqar who was a “junior” leader to them before his surprise anointment.
A Jammu-based party leader said that the office staff hasn’t been facilitating the meetings of the new crop of leaders, close to Viqar, who have started to throng the Congress offices in both the capital cities.
“When the staff which has been loyal to the party sees new men with no Congress background taking over the office, they are bound to protest in any manner they like,” the leader said.
Further Damage
As scores of prominent former Congress lawmakers and ministers left with Azad, the party is yet to officially gather the actual number of basic members who left. A party leader claimed that the figure is around 30000. Taj Mohiuddin, who left to join Azad, held a meeting of former Congress delegates from his Uri constituency claiming that 1200 basic members left with him.
Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, a close Azad aide, who left the Congress with him said, “Over 20000 prominent Congress members which include leaders, workers, corporators, panchayat members and block-level leaders, have resigned from the party in support of Azad. Leaders are coming in each day from everywhere, but more people are from Congress party.”
Amid the claims, the Congress unit is now divided into a Mir-Karra group on one side while Viqar-Patil on the other side. The division leaves behind Jammu’s Hindu heartland where Raman Bhalla, the working president, has his group under tight control.
With infighting continuing within, will Viqar’s latest claim that Congress is united and strong enough to overcome challenges, come true?
PCC President Viqar Rasool Wani said that the news about any internal feud is completely false. “The sources quoted in your story aren’t depicting the reality.”
“A person who has got four books, each containing 25 pages, filled by people wanting to be Congress’s basic members can become a delegate of the PCC. We have filled the PCC delegates list post Azad’s (Ghulam Nabi Azad) exit with such people,” Wani said, adding that only 45 delegates had left with Azad.
He said that the party hasn’t suffered much damage post Azad’s exit.
He said that no new district presidents have been appointed since he took over. “New bodies would come up after consultation in the party. I have just appointed few people as interim in-charges of some districts.”
