NC, Cong share Council seats around Patel-Nedou wedding

Farooq leaving for Finland, nominations likely today

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

JAMMU, Mar 26: Ruling coalition partners, National Conference (NC) and Congress, are understood to have settled the issue of sharing seats for Legislative Council in 4:2 on the basis of the spirit of an agreement made in January 2009. Senior leaders of the two parties are said to have sorted out the arrangement around the marriage ceremony of Ahmed Patel’s son with the daughter Srinagar-based businessman and close relative of J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in New Delhi last weekend.

Well placed political sources told Early Times that NC and Congress had finalized an agreement over seat sharing for six vacancies in Legislative Council around a high profile wedding in New Delhi last weekend. Almost all the senior leaders of the two parties attended the ceremony of marriage between senior Congress leader and AICC chief Sonia Gandhi’s confidante Ahmed Patel’s son and daughter of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s close relative Omar Nedou. Sources said that Dr Abdullah and Omar Abdullah discussed the issue of seat sharing in detail with senior AICC leaders.

Sources said that on the basis of the spirit of an agreement made at the time of formation of the coalition government in January 2009, NC and Congress shared the seats in 4:2 ratio. Some J&K Pradesh Congress Committee leaders, including President Prof Saifuddin Soz, had been insisting on 3:3 formula. However, it was finally decided that on the basis of the parties’ respective strength in Legislative Assembly, NC would field four candidates and Congress would contest on remaining two seats. However, both the seats allotted to Congress, one each in Jammu and Kashmir provinces, would be “fully safe”.

Sources said that both the outgoing MLCs of Congress party, namely Jehangir Ahmed Mir (Poonch Reserved) and Abdul Gani Vakil, were likely to be repeated. Prof Soz, who interacted with his party colleagues in Jammu today, was still insisting on replacing both the incumbent MLCs. He was also insisting Congress to contest from a seat in Jammu and field one among the former Ministers namely Mangat Ram Sharma, Moola Ram, Jugal Kishore and Gharu Ram. Sources said that a final decision to that effect would be taken on Tuesday after Ghulam Nabi Azad’s return from Teheran.

According to informed sources, NC President and Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who has taken Omar Abdullah as well as party General Secretary, Sheikh Nazir Ahmed, in confidence over seat sharing arrangement as well as nomination of four of the party’s contenders, would be flying to Finland in Europe in the forenoon on Tuesday. Nominations are likely to be made public in Jammu in the afternoon tomorrow.

Almost all members of Dr Abdullah’s family and former Chief Minister late Ghulam Mohammad Shah’s family were conspicuously in attendance on the wedding in New Delhi. They included Dr Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Dr Mustafa Kamal, Begam Khalida Shah, her son Muzaffar Shah and all members of the Nedou family. Owner of Nedous group of hotels, Feredy Nedou happened to be Dr Farooq Abdullah’s maternal uncle. Before his departure for Iran, Mr Azad also attended the wedding. Ahmed Patel has been the most influential General Secretary of AICC besides Political Advisor to AICC chief Sonia Gandhi. He was a close friend of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Even as the senior AICC and NC leaders are holding it close to their chest, sources said that Dr Abdullah was strongly in favour of repeating one of his party’s outgoing MLCs in Jammu. However, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and few others in his government were in favour another senior leader and former MLC with the apprehension that Dr Abdullah’s favourite could be arrested anytime on account of his alleged involvement in the infamous Chopra murder case. Sources said that there were also “bleak chances” of the repetition of NC’s outgoing MLCs in Kshmir namely Altaf Kaloo and Showkat Ganai in view of their poor performance, both in Legislative Council as well as their respective constituencies of Pahalgam and Wachi, in South Kashmir.

END