Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Sept 6: Following strong exception by Congress party Ministers over Chief Minister’s nomination of four councillors to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Kargil, the oath ceremony of the councillors that was scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed after the coalition partners in the State Government agreed to resolve the issue through negotiations.
The State Congress president, Professor Saif-ud-Din Soz told Excelsior that in order to defuse the crisis, he flew from New Delhi to Srinagar and drove directly to the venue of the Coordination Committee meeting.
“Both NC and Congress members presented their view points in the CC meeting that last for about one and a half hour. We tried to find out a solution to the issue of Chief Minister’s nomination of four NC members to LAHDC in Kargil”, said Soz, who is also chairman of the CC.
The meeting which started at 12.00 pm was attended by Saif-ud-Din Soz, Deputy Chief Minster, Tara Chand, Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, Floriculture Minister Peerzada Mohammad Syed, Rural Development Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar and CAPD Minister Choudhry Mohammad Ramzan.
Rather was pleading the NC’s case in the meeting. He told the meeting that since Congress nominated the councillors for the LAHDC, Leh and the NC was well within its rights to nominate the members for LAHDC, Kargil. It may be mentioned here that Congress had nominated its 4 councillors to LAHDC, Leh after elections that were held last year.
The Congress representatives were adamant that NC violated the coalition dharma by nominating 4 NC members to LAHDC, Kargil. They said that they were not taken into confidence at the time of nominations and it was done secretly without informing them when they had majority in LAHDC, Kargil.
Congress Ministers had been arguing that the nomination normally takes place after the formation of the Council and the Chief Executive Councillor is the nominating authority. They argued, how could the members be nominated without formation of the council? They declared the NC move as an ‘unethical’ and ‘undemocratic.’
Sources said that there were heated arguments over the issue in the meeting that finally ended in a deadlock.
The Congress Ministers and the president Professor Soz held an emergency meeting at Deputy Chief Minister’s residence at MA Road, Srinagar soon after the coordination committee meeting ended in a deadlock. The meeting began at around 2 p.m. and continued upto 8 p.m.
The Congress marathon was attended by JKPCC(I) chief, Saif-ud-Din Soz and several other Ministers including Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand; Minister for Urban Development and Urban Local Bodies, Nawang Rizgin Jora; Irrigation and Flood Control, Sham Lal Sharma; Minister for Housing, Horticulture and Culture, Raman Bhalla, Minister for Tourism, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, Minister for R&B and Mechanical Engineering Abdul Majid Wani and Minister of State for Revenue, Relief & Rehabilitation, Ajaz Ahmed Khan.
Taj Mohi-ud-Din, Manohar Lal, Shabir Khan, Vikar Rasool attended the meeting. Taj and Khan were in New Delhi and Lal, Rasool were in their constituencies. All of them will be joining their colleagues in Srinagar tomorrow for further discussion of the matter.
The Congress Ministers took a tough posture during their six hour meeting but were persuaded by the central leadership to resolve the issue through dialogue and discussions with their coalition partner, the NC.
The NC has also assured the Congress leaders that the issue will be resolved through negotiations and the oath ceremony of the councillors of LAHDC, Kargil has been postponed. But sources said that the NC is still sticking to the stand that Congress nominated their members for LAHDC, Leh and it was their turn to nominate the members for LAHDC, Kargil.
Earlier, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah nominated four National Conference leaders to LAHDC, Kargil to tilt the balance of power towards the NC at a time when the Congress claimed majority in the Council elections in Kargil. Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand shot a letter to Chief Minister yesterday asking him to convene an emergency Cabinet meet to resolve the issue.
Sources said that the Chief Minister asked Finance and Ladakh Affairs Minister Abdul Rahim Rather to get in touch with Prof Soz and tell him that the matter could not be discussed by Cabinet and instead suggest NC-Congress Coordination Committee (CC) meeting. The meeting which witnessed heated arguments between the coalition members was held today at Hari Nivas and it lasted for about one and a half hour.
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