setback to Azad

June 22,2006

Mir's arrest setback to Azad
S.P.Sharma
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 22
The arrest of former minister and sitting MLA G.A. Mir by the CBI in connection with the alleged sex racket has come as a setback to not only the Congress but also Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Mir, who held the important portfolio of roads and buildings as a nominee of the Congress in the government of Mufti Sayeed, is considered as member of the kitchen cabinet of Mr Azad.

His arrest as one of the accused in the case relating to sexual exploitation of teenaged girls has provided an opportunity to the BJP and other opposition parties to ridicule the Congress at the national level.

Raman Mattoo, another MLA and former minister, who has also been arrested by the CBI, was supporting the Congress-led coalition government from outside.

Arrest of these two legislators of the ruling coalition has put Mr Azad in an awkward position as he has been stressing the party legislators to maintain probity in public life. He had also taken steps to introduce good governance in the state.

Mir also had good relations with various Congress leaders at Delhi who in a quiet operation saw to it that he was given the important portfolio of roads and buildings that was held by Mr Madan Lal before he won the Lok Sabha election.

Mir was so far considered as a hot contender for a ministerial berth when Mr Azad expanded his Cabinet. However, his arrest in connection with the sex racket that has rocked the state appears to have blocked his entry into the ministry for the time being.

On the other hand, the chances of Mrs Khemlata Wakhloo, a nominated MLA of the Congress, for induction into the ministry as a representative of the Kashmiri Pandit community have brightened following the arrest of Mattoo. These are the only two legislators belonging to the community.