Selection of candidates by high command irks Azad Cong infighting continues 11/3/2014 11:27:10 PM Kunal Shrivatsa Early Times Report JAMMU, Nov 3: The infighting in Congress is on a all time high over the finalization of party candidates names for second as well as the rest of the phases as the consensus eludes among the two power houses within the State unit of Congress- Ghulam Nabi Azad and Saif-ud-Din Soz. If Congress insiders are to be believed then senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad is upset with party High Command over not giving due representation to his supporters in the selection of candidates for the remaining 72 seats where names of the party candidates are yet to be finalized. Day before yesterday, a meeting was convened by the High Command at New Delhi to discuss and finalize the names of the party candidates for rest of the seats but the meeting remained inconclusive as Azad left it in a huff as he got annoyed because some names of his liking were not okayed by the Screening Committee, said sources. Nothing could be finalized even as the lengthy meeting ended late Saturday evening since Azad and Soz could not be persuaded to zero-in on the party candidates….Both the leaders were seeking party mandates for their respective supporters…There was open tug of war between the two leaders for six Assembly segments falling in different districts of Jammu region, said sources. Sources further told Early Times that the bone of contention among the two stalwarts is six seats of Samba, Vijaypur, Suchetgarh, Jammu East, Jammu West and Nowshera from where both the senior leaders want party mandate for the candidates owing allegiance to them. Azad wanted party ticket for Subhash Bhagat from Samba, Arun Sharma from Vijaypur, either Gharum Ram Choudhary or Darshan Raina from Suchetgarh, Yogesh Sawhney from Jammu East while he favoured mandate for Vinod Sharma, Surinder Singh Shingari or Anil Chopra from Jammu West…Azads choice for Nowshera was former Minister Romesh Chander Sharma, said sources Whereas Soz sought mandate for Dr Satpal from Samba while he batted for former Minister Manjeet Singh from Vijaypur…For Suchetgarh Assembly segment, Soz backed the candidature of RS Chib while his choices for Jammu East, Jammu West and Nowshera were Vikram Malhotra, Satish Sharma, son of former MP Madan Lal and Ravinder Sharma respectively, sources added. Sources informed that while the discussion over the manes of candidates was going on, Azad strongly objected to some of the names suggested by Soz and conveyed that it would be difficult for him to campaign in J&K as he cannot justify the candidatures of those who have dubious credentials. Azad and Soz locked into an argument after some of the contentious names were propped up from both the sides….Azad even threatened to skip campaigning in the state for the forthcoming Assembly elections, said sources. I cannot favour the candidature of Manjeet Singh, who has habit of changing parties….Arun Sharma is far better candidate who is associated with the party for the last 25 years, sources quoting Azad said. If sources are to believed then Azads sudden arrival in Doda yesterday was directly connected with the tiff he had with Soz over the issue of ticket distribution adding that he had come to J&K to lodge his protest. Azad has gone into self imposed exile as he is not happy with the way whole issue of finalizing party candidates is being handled, however, the party High Command knowing the stature and value of Azad is in touch with him and asking him to come over to New Delhi so that the process of party mandate could be okayed, sources maintained.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 02:13:14 +0000
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