With the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah facing the heat for the worst crises in the Valley since the 2008 Amarnath law row, his political opponents in the mainstream politics are again aspiring for his ouster.
Governor N.N. Vohra’s taking the first available flight to relocate to New Delhi after being called by the Centre for consultation while Srinagar was burning on Tuesday spurred rumours that the Manmohan Singh government may be looking for alternatives, a political changeover being among the probable. However, the Centre is learnt to be in no mood to dislodge Mr Abdullah at this stage. Rather it seems willing to lend him a hand to overcome the crises.
But that may not put an end to the veiled efforts to impress upon the PMO, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the MHA and all others at the Centre about the “urgency” for a change of guard in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr Makhan Lal Fotedar, an old Congress hand on Kashmir, was recently in Srinagar to gauge the mood of people around the corridors of power, including his own partymen. He had had meetings with several senior Congress leaders and activists including ministers, some of whom reportedly showed inclinations towards patching up with their erstwhile ally Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The Congress men who appeared somewhat enthusiastic about the idea of parting ways with the NC and turning to Mr Mufti, belong to the camp within the party which makes no bones about being up against Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Already, clear voices are being heard from within the Congress party here that instead of allowing Mr Abdullah to lead the government for the entire six years of the present government, he should be asked to stepdown to make way for a Congress chief minister.
It is learnt that feelers were sent out to Mr Mufti earlier about a possible patch up and squaring off leaving behind the bitterness of the past. Though he was initially ready to oblige on the condition that the withdrawal of the Congress MLA’s support to the Omar government should be handled in such a way, preferably on the floor of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, that nobody sees it as a repetition of the July 1984 coupe de tat against the present incumbent’s father Dr Farooq Abdullah. But now, the sources said, he has changed his mind and is not willing to be a part of any such move apparently because he does not want to assume the responsibility at a stage when the state has virtually plunged into mayhem and it would not be an easy task to pull it out of the crisis.