Click to play videoJammu: Despite the Congress leaders in Jammu pressing hard for a rotational power sharing, the final word is out. National Conference (NC) president Omar Abdullah will be the Chief Minister for the next six-year in the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir. The Congress party with 17 seats in the state will have to do with a Deputy CM’s post.
The NC emerged as the single largest party in the Jammu and Kashmir elections and the Congress grabbed 17 seats. The two parties together won 46 seats in the state and decided to form a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir.
But this move of Congress president Sonia Gandhi has upset several partymen, who think that there should be a rotational power sharing in the state.
“There is no constitutional binding, the Chief Minister can be a Hindu, Sikh or anyone else. Out demand is that there should be rotational power sharing,” says Congress leader Jammu Shyam Sharma.
Even for the Deputy CM’s role, the Congress party’s problems have been compounded by the dismal performance of former deputy chief minister Mangat Ram Sharma and Member of Parliament Lal Singh. Both were senior party leaders from Jammu region but lost with a huge margin and could not even save their security deposits.
With senior faces out, the party is now struggling with a handful of options. Some of the options that the Congress party has are -
- Shyam Lal Sharma - he won the Akhnoor seat. He also supported the Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti during the land row agitation.
- Tara Chand - former speaker of the State Assembly, who won from Chamb constituency.
- BR Kundal - former chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir, who resigned to join the Congress party. Kundal is known to be an Azad loyalist.
- Choudhary Mohamamd Aslam - a senior Congress leader who won from Surankote in Poonch. Aslam tops the experience list but may lose the race if the party opts for a Hindu deputy CM from Jammu region.
For the Congress party, the only challenge that would perhaps lie is not feeling completely left out in this new found partnership.
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