Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 27: In a major political development, six out of seven BJP rebel MLAs today met Chief Minister and National Conference working president Omar Abdullah at his official residence and declared their support to two candidates of the NC in Jammu and Kashmir divisions for Legislative Council elections on December 3. They, however, refused to support two candidates of Congress, who were contesting the election in alliance with the National Conference.
One of the rebel MLAs told the Excelsior after the meeting that they met Omar for about half an hour. He said MLA Bani Master Lal Chand couldn’t make it to the meeting as he was not feeling well but he has also endorsed the decision of supporting the National Conference candidates for the MLC elections.
The rebel BJP MLAs’ delegation headed by former Union Minister and MLA Jammu West Prof Chaman Lal Gupta described the Chief Minister as straight forward person saying it was he who saved them from disqualification from the Assembly for which the Congress and BJP had tried their best.
The insiders confirmed that all seven rebel MLAs, who have not fielded any candidate for four seats of Legislative Council from Panchayat quota, pledged their unflinching support to two National Conference candidates—Dr Shahnaz Ganai from Jammu division and Ali Mohammad Dar from Kashmir division.
The MLAs said they would do all their best to ensure victory of National Conference candidates in their constituencies. However, as far as voting for second candidate in Jammu division was concerned, the BJP rebels left the decision to individual MLAs as per the wishes of their supporters in their constituencies.
The BJP rebels reportedly lavished praises on Omar Abdullah saying he always came to their rescue and thwarted “illegal plans’’ of Congress and some BJP leaders to get them disqualified from the Assembly by leveling “baseless charges’’ on them for cross voting in April 13, 2011 election of the Legislative Council.
The BJP rebel MLAs said the BJP would know its strength in seven constituencies held by them after the Legislative Council election.
“As I had secured 34 per cent votes in my constituency, the BJP should get support of 34 per cent Panchayat members in my segment. If they are unable to get 34 per cent votes in my constituency, they would realize that they have lost the ground’’, one of the rebel MLAs said, adding that the BJP ditched them and made efforts to get them disqualified from the Assembly but failed.
The BJP rebels have allowed MLA Hiranagar Durga Dass to help BJP candidate Rashpal Singh Verma as he hailed from Hiranagar if he desired so.
“Durga Dass wanted to support Mr Verma and we have exempted him of our decision to support NC candidates as the MLA wanted to help the local’’, the rebel MLA said.
He added that the Chief Minister said he understood how difficult it was to get elected as MLA. He reportedly thanked them for their support to National Conference candidates for the Legislative Council elections and hoped for their cooperation in future also.
Six MLAs, who called on the Chief Minister, included Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, MLA Jammu West, Jagdish Raj Sapolia, MLA Basohli, Baldev Raj Sharma, MLA Reasi, Bharat Bushan, MLA Domana, Durga Dass, MLA Hiranagar and Prof Gharu Ram, MLA RS Pura.
Sources said MLA Bani Master Lal Chand couldn’t make it to the meeting due to illness but had extended his full support to the move of the MLAs to meet the Chief Minister and extend support to NC candidates for Legislative Council elections.
Sources said the BJP rebels made it clear to the Chief Minister that their support was confined to National Conference only and they would in no case support NC’s coalition partner, the Congress, which had tried to get them disqualified from the Assembly along with the BJP.
Sources added that open support of seven BJP rebel MLAs to the National Conference assumed significance as they yielded considerable influence not only in their Assembly constituencies but other pockets as well.
It may be mentioned here that Prof Gupta’s son, Anil Gupta has also floated his own political party, Jammu Kashmir Democratic Front (JKDF), which had stormed into limelight after two of its activists had stormed into Well of the Assembly by jumping from the galleries during autumn session of the Legislature in October this year.
After the episode, Assembly Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone had commented that he was studying affiliation of BJP MLAs with JKDF, which could invite disqualification from the Assembly.
The BJP had expelled seven MLAs from the party for cross-voting in favour of NC-Congress candidates in Legislative Council election on April 13, 2011. However, the Speaker continued to treat them as BJP MLAs in the Assembly and Prof Gupta as Leader of BJP Legislature Party.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued here by Prof Gupta asked the leaders of the coalition to come out clearly about their plan for holding of elections to the Local Bodies and their scheme of things for empowerment of the basic democracies including the Panchayats also the civic bodies of the State.
He said that the fate of these basic institutions at the grass root level is hanging fire for a long time but for the so called special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The elections were never held at due time. At last the leaders of the State coalition including the Chief Minister is on record having promised to hold the civic elections before the end of December this year. But in practical on the ground there has been no extensive revision of the electoral rolls nor the delimitation of the wards in accordance with the law although December is to begin in a week’s time now’’, Prof Gupta said.
Prof. Gupta observed that their whole approach is far from the basics of democracy and acting against their promises and professions. This is bound to recoil ultimately, he warned and recalled that the such like behavior of the coalition in late eighties had led to a sad situation and provided opportunity to the enemies of the State as also those of the country to exploit things to suit their ends.
“The people are still facing the music even after 22 years of the previous dispensation of the Congress-NC’’, he added.
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