On a day when Omar Abdullah has taken over as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, his ally, the Congress, should blame itself for a poor showing in the recently concluded Assembly elections. The grand old party’s performance deprived it of several ministerial berths in the new government.
If, while in Srinagar, Rahul Gandhi gets a chance to review the party’s performance in the Jammu region, some names such as Jugal Kishore Sharma, Satish Sharma, Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, and a few others will surely make him rue the outcome. Had he, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ambika Soni, and Raman Bhalla been more attentive and hands-on, the Congress would have easily won the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Chhamb, and Inderwal Assembly seats.
Victory in the temple town of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi would have been particularly sweet and special, almost on par with the INDI alliance’s Ayodhya triumph in the Lok Sabha polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hesitant about Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, opting to hold a roadshow and deploying Union Minister Jitendra Singh exclusively for the constituency. Several ministers from Uttarakhand, in addition to RSS functionaries, were mobilised to save the prestigious Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat for the BJP.
The verdict on the morning of October 8, 2024, saw the BJP’s Baldev Raj Sharma defeat Jugal Kishore Sharma by 1,995 votes, while the official Congress nominee, Bhupendra Singh, secured 5,655 votes. Jugal had been a veteran Congress member, having won the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat numerous times and served as a state minister. Kishore had defected to the Democratic Progressive Azad Party when Congress stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad left the parent organisation.
When Assembly elections began in J&K, Jugal Kishore, having given up on a listless and dispirited Azad, sought reconciliation by knocking on the doors of 10, Janpath; 10, Rajaji Marg; 24, Akbar Road; and various other significant addresses in New Delhi, but to no avail. His past track record and service were ignored. Remembering Jammu & Kashmir’s political history, Jugal Kishore tried to remind everyone how Indira Gandhi had permitted the return of every party leader who had left with Dr Karan Singh in 1980. His pleas fell on deaf ears.
If Rahul Gandhi were to focus on the Chhamb assembly results, where independent candidate Satish Sharma emerged victorious, a sense of regret would likely cross his mind. Satish Sharma, son of former MP Madan Lal Sharma, won as a rebel Congress candidate from the Chhamb constituency, defeating the official Congress nominee and former Deputy CM, Tara Chand (SC), who had insisted on contesting from this general seat, which was previously reserved. Tara came in a poor third.
Like Jugal Kishore, Satish Sharma had made significant efforts to return to the Congress fold, but there were no takers. Following the election, Farooq Abdullah quickly reached out to him, seeking his support for his son, Omar Abdullah. In both Jugal Kishore and Satish Sharma, the Congress missed the opportunity twice over to have Hindu-Brahmin MLAs in Jammu’s Hindu belt, which was swept entirely by the BJP.
In Inderwal, another independent candidate, Pyarelal Sharma, defeated former Congress minister Ghulam Mohammad Saroori. Like Jugal Kishore, Saroori had left the Congress to join Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DAAP). However, when Azad opted to remain inactive during the crucial J&K polls, Saroori attempted to return to the Congress. Given his familiarity with all the major players in the party, Saroori was confident of being readmitted. However, some Congress leaders viewed him as a ‘threat,’ effectively blocking his return. This perception of Saroori as a threat should intrigue Rahul Gandhi, as state Congress leaders were already calculating their prospects even before the J&K polls concluded. In their view, a coalition between the National Conference and Congress would yield a few ministerial positions, and the likes of Saroori, Jugal Kishore, and Satish Sharma, if elected, would have jeopardised their ambitions.
Saroori lost to Pyarelal Sharma by a margin of 643 votes, while the official Congress nominee secured 12,533 votes. The combined strength of Saroori and Mohammad Zafarullah would have ensured victory for the Congress in Inderwal. Similar to the victorious Satish Sharma, Farooq Abdullah swiftly sought Pyarelal Sharma’s support for his son Omar’s government.
Rahul and Kharge want accountability for the party’s poor performance in Haryana and the Jammu region. However, the sincerity of their efforts can be gauged from the fact that the party panels, which had looked into the reasons for the debacle in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh in December 2023, are yet to submit their reports.
The author is a Visiting Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation. A well-known political analyst, he has written several books, including ‘24 Akbar Road’ and ‘Sonia: A Biography’. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
Comments
0 comment