Srinagar: Even though many believe that Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah decided to quit his family political bastion Ganderbal fearing rout from the constituency, it will be an uphill task for him to get mandate from Sonawar and Beerwah, the two seats he will test his luck in the Assembly polls.
Sources in the National Conference (NC) say the party leadership is worried about the fate of Omar in Sonawar despite it being his home constituency because the people are angry with him as the local administration completely failed to tackle the situation during and after floods in the valley.
Meanwhile, the performance of the NC in the constituency in the last Assembly elections wasn't reassuring either. In the Assembly election held in 2008, Omar's father and NC president Farooq Abdullah won Sonawar seat by just 94 votes.
However, Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) Sheikh Ghulam Qadir Pardesi, who came second in the Assembly polls in 2008, defected and joined the NC before by-elections which was held after Farooq resigned from the seat to contest Lok Sabha elections.
It is also interesting that Omar chose Beerwah constituency in central Kashmir district of Budgam as his second option, instead of retaining Ganderbal. Since its creation in 2002, Beerwah is a stronghold of PDP. In 2002, Assembly election was won by PDP's Mohammd Sarfaraz Khan while in 2008, the seat was again retained by the party after Shafi Ahmad Wani won.
Reacting to criticism over his decision to quit Ganderbal, Omar said he took the decision two years ago. "Having decided two years ago that I wouldn't seek re-election from Ganderbal I have continued to work for the constituency and will always do so," Omar wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Commenting on his decision to fight from two seats, Omar wrote, "So when PM candidates do it we take it as a sign of weakness too or are we conspicuously silent at that time?"
Meanwhile, days after Omar decided not to seek re-election from Ganderbal, the rift within the party is widening with senior leader and MLC Sheikh Ghulam Rasool resigning from primary membership of NC and its Central Working Committee.
In his resignation letter, Rasool said because of deterioration in the party affairs, people are now alienated with the party. "I could not accept the mandate offered to me by president Dr Farooq Abdullah and you (working president) to contest from Ganderbal," he added.
Earlier, in January longtime NC loyalist Sheikh Ghulam Ahmad Saloora resigned from the party, alleging that party leadership was more concerned about power grabbing than to care for the people. He went on to say that he apologised to the people of Ganderbal for the fake promises he had made to the people on behalf of Omar during 2008 Assembly polls.
Rasool and Saloora played a very important role in Omar's win from Ganderbal in 2008 Assembly elections.
The PDP has chosen to remain silent on the issue. Reacting to Omar's decision, PDP chief spokesperson Naeem Akhtar said, "It is an internal matter of NC, they must have some compulsions to shift Omar from Ganderbal."
The relationship of Abdullah family and Ganderbal goes way back to 1975, when Omar's grandfather and NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, after abandoning the plebiscite demand and joining mainstream politics, fought election from the constituency.
After Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Abdullah accord in the same year, the sitting Congress Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the constituency Mohammad Maqbool Bhat vacated the seat for him. Sheikh Abdullah later won the by-election and became the chief minister of the state.
At the end of the NC-Congress coalition government in 1977, Sheikh Abdullah again fought election from Ganderbal and won.
After Sheikh Abdullah died on September 8, 1982, the baton was carried forward by his son and Omar's father Farooq, who contested from Ganderbal constituency three times - 1983, 1987 and 1996 - and won them each time.
After Omar decided to enter the state politics and took over party affairs, he too chose Ganderbal to make his debut.
Even though he lost the Assembly seat to PDP's Qazi Mummad Afzal in 2002, Omar avenged his defeat by defeating him (Qazi) in 2008 by a margin of more than 8000 votes.
(Abid Soffi is Managing Editor, Kashmir Pioneer. He lives in Srinagar.)
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