Jammu people unforgiving
S. P. Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, October 31
The volte face of the Congress on the chief ministership issue is not being supported here.
The BJP and the Jammu State Morcha have got an opportunity to launch an attack on the Congress, accusing it of having misled the people of the region.
With a lot of resentment prevailing among the people on the issue, Mufti Sayeed will have to make an extra effort to win their favour.
Though the coalition ministry will be sworn in at Srinagar this week, the Mufti will actually start functioning from here when government offices, which closed in Srinagar for the winter, will reopen here on November 5.
The people are taking the statement of PCC Chief Ghulam Nabi Azad that he was satisfied with the inclusion of 23 poll promises of the Congress in the common minimum programme (CMP) which the coalition government will pursue with a pinch of salt. However, the people from Jammu are not pleased as the state has never had a Chief Minister from there.
The president of the Panthers Party, Mr Bhim Singh, has claimed that most of the points pertaining to the uplift of Jammu were included in the CMP following his insistence.
Mr Bhim Singh is also drawing flak for not sticking to his stand of supporting a government which was headed by a person from Jammu.
The Mufti's connections with the Jammu region are old. He won the 1983 Assembly election from the Ranbirsingh Pura constituency in Jammu.
Activists of the PDP say that he is conversant with the problems of the region and would try to alleviate them. The PDP had not even got a single seat here.
The Mufti is facing an uphill task in connection with the composition of his ministry as the coalition partners and the Independents supporting him are demanding the maximum number of ministerial berths. He has however, stated that his ministry will be small.
Several people have meanwhile started lobbying for nomination to the Upper House where eight seats have fallen vacant.
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