Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Apr 15: In a major political development within the Congress, a party MLA today charged his own party’s Cabinet Minister with encouraging Opposition in his constituency and threatened to resign if the party high command didn’t stop his activities.
Congress MLA from Bhaderwah, Mohammad Sharief Niaz, who happened to be cousin of Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad, today shot off a letter to both Centre and State party high command including AICC (I) president Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi apprising them of what he called “anti-party activities” of a Cabinet Minister of Congress by projecting Opposition workers in his constituency.
Mr Niaz told the Excelsior on telephone that he has shot off letters to AICC (I) president Sonia Gandhi, Vice president Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad, Political Secretary to (AICC) president, Ahmad Patel, AICC (I) Incharge for Jammu and Kashmir, Mohan Prakash and PCC (I) president Saif-ud-Din Soz apprising them about “anti-party activities” of a Congress Minister.
“I have apprised the party high command. It was for them to act now. However, if they (the high command) didn’t act, I would be left with no other option but to resign my Assembly seat,” Mr Niaz threatened.
Mr Niaz, who also happened to be a former Minister, didn’t name the Minister but maintained that he didn’t hail from the erstwhile Doda district.
Meanwhile, PCC (I) president Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz, when approached for comments on the statement of Mr Niaz on the sidelines of a party rally at Hiranagar, said: “Mr Niaz is a matured politician and I will speak to him personally on the issue.”
Nevertheless, Prof Soz said, the Ministers have no right to visit any Assembly constituency without taking the concerned MLA into confidence.
He added that it would be premature to comment on the episode till he officially received copy of the letter written by Mr Niaz.
Though Mr Niaz refused to name the Minister, sources close to him said the Minister was closely associated to a former bureaucrat, who had joined the PDP after his retirement as Commissioner/Secretary and was being projected by the opposition party as a potential candidate against Mr Niaz from Bhaderwah Assembly segment.
“One Congress Minister is involved in the anti-party activities and was encouraging an Opposition leader in my constituency. I have enough proof to prove the allegations against the Minister, who was posing himself to be a Congress stalwart and Congress loyalist but didn’t hesitate to get myself defeated in the previous Assembly election also,” Mr Niaz said in his letter addressed to top party leaders.
He charged that the Cabinet Minister was trying to project candidate of Opposition parties against the Congress and him in Bhaderwah Assembly segment.
Stating that he has sacrificed his whole life for strengthening the Congress in Doda district, Mr Niaz threatened that if this “so called Minister” didn’t stop his activities against him and the Congress in Bhaderwah and party high command didn’t initiate any action against him he would be left with no other option but to quit his Assembly seat.
Bhaderwah Assembly segment has a lot of significance for the Congress as Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad has won it twice during past about seven years.
Mr Niaz had vacated the seat for Mr Azad after the latter was nominated as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on November 2, 2005. Mr Azad had won the seat with a handsome margin. Again in 2008 Assembly elections, Mr Azad retained the seat but vacated it to become Rajya Sabha member in 2009. Mr Niaz had won the seat in the by-election.
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