Click to play videoSrinagar/ New Delhi: Liquor baron Vijay Mallya could become the first non-Kashmiri with a Rajya Sabha seat from Jammu and Kashmir, sparking off a fresh outsider versus local controversy.
Sources close to him have told CNN-IBN that he has been offered a seat by the ruling National Conference. Mallya himself refused to come on record.
The National Conference is expected to win at least two of the four Rajya Sabha seats in the state, but Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has not given his consent to selecting Mallya as the party’s nominee yet.
And with the Amarnath land dispute still fresh, Mallya's decision to contest from the state may spark off another political turmoil. Mallya was the Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka between 2002 and 2008. The Kingfisher chief, who was in the Valley last week, said he was an old friend of Kashmir.
"I am excited at Omar Abdullah becoming the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. My relationship with the Abdullahs is spread over three generations and I think better days are ahead for the people of the state under his young and dynamic leadership," said Mallya on January 14.
The Srinagar Bar Association was appalled at Mallya being considered for a Rajya Sabha seat from the state. G N Saheen, general secretary of the Bar Association, said Mallya’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha would be another instance of India’s “economic colonialism” in Kashmir.
"It is political intrusion. Vijay Mallya's presence is felt in all political circles in Jammu and Kashmir because he has invested in the last elections. I believe Vijay Mallya's nomination would economic colonialism along with the political domination of the people of Kashmir,” said Saheen.
CNN-IBN’s National Affairs Editor Diptosh Majumdar says Mallya is treading into dangerous waters in Kashmir. In 2002, Karnataka MPs across party lines supported him for Rajya Sabha but that kind of support is not granted now.
Mallya is looking for a safe state therefore, but political parties in Kashmir will appreciate it if National Conference supports him. Legally though Mallya would be safe in Jammu and Kashmir, as the Supreme Court has ruled that a person can be a domicile of one state and contest from another state.
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