The Hindu : Alliances may make the going tough for NC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 27, 2002

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Other States - Jammu & Kashmir

Alliances may make the going tough for NC

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR AUG. 26. Even as the alliances between various political parties are yet to materialise, indications suggest that an understanding among the Opposition parties is likely to make the election battle tougher for the ruling National Conference. However, the Congress has suffered a setback with the former PCC chief, Ghulam Rasool Kar, declining to contest from Sopore.

In the Kashmir Valley, the Congress and the People's Democratic Party, led by the former Union Home Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, are the two main parties contesting the elections besides the recently-floated Kashmir Resolution Movement and the Kashmir People's Party.

The NC has already released the list of candidates for the 26 Assembly segments going to the polls in the first phase on September 16. The Congress, which released its list on Saturday, withdrew it, though only for 23 seats covering all the four phases. Sources said serious differences had surfaced over the nomination of candidates. The party also received a major setback when the former PCC chief, Ghulam Rasool Kar, refused to contest from the Sopore constituency against the Assembly Speaker, Abdul Ahad Vakil.

Mr. Kar said: "I have declined to jump into the elections and instead suggested a joint front of secular parties'' he told The Hindu over the phone from New Delhi.

The party's State president, Ghulam Nabi Azad, on Sunday, said that the formal list of candidates was yet to be finalised. Sources said the party was negotiating on a "possible tie-up'' with the PDP chief, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, and would not field candidates in many segments, particularly in the Valley. That is why the list released on Saturday covered only five segments of the Valley. This strongly indicated that an alliance was on the cards, the sources added.

If the alliance materialises, the NC would face stiff opposition in many of the constituencies. The chances of the PDP candidates, the senior Supreme Court lawyer, Muzaffar Hussain Beig, the former Law Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir, and the party vice-president, Mehbooba Mufti, who are contesting from Sangrama, Tangmarg and a South Kashmir segment, would brighten in the absence of a Congress candidate.

However, both the parties maintained that they had not reached any agreement. The AICC general secretary, Ambika Soni, expressed her ignorance on the issue saying that the "PCC chief must be knowing about it''. The PDP leader, Tariq Hamid Qarra, also denied that his party had entered into any alliance with the Congress. There have been offers from various quarters, he said.

Similarly, the BJP is also working on a tie-up with the Jammu State Morcha, which is fighting the election on the "Jammu Statehood'' slogan. It has left some seats for the Morcha and is also seeking the active support of the RSS to overcome its eroded base in Jammu division. On the other hand, the BSP, which has considerable support in the Dalit belt of the region, has not talked about any alliance so far. Sources, however, do not rule out the possibility of an agreement between the NC and the BSF on a few seats.

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