Azad to take up reins in J&K on Nov 2

Faced with rebellion from its party MLAs, the Congress high command today decided to opt for a change of guard in Jammu & Kashmir. Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad will be the next Chief Minister.

All India Congress Committtee (AICC) general secretary Ambika Soni announced this at a special press briefing here on Thursday evening. She said that party president Sonia Gandhi arrved at this decision after consultations with party leaders including legislators.

The decision has been conveyed to incumbent Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and he has assured full cooperation from the PDP. Azad would be sworn in at Srinagar on November 2.

The change of guard comes three years after the Congress-PDP coalition came to power in November 2002. As per the agreement between the two, the PDP was to lead the coalition government for the first three years and hand over the reins to the Congress for the remaining three years in the six-year term of the J & K assembly.

The Congress High Command's decision came amidst reported threats of resignation from 21 party MLAs who were camping in New Delhi for several days.

Although the party leadership vehemently denied such reports, some legislators went public with their decision to resign if their demand for the change of guard was not met.

According to party sources, Azad's choice was dictated by the party's desire to consolidate its support base in Jammu and Ladakh, the regions where the Congress had done very well in the last Assembly election.

What was learnt to have gone in favour of Azad was the fact that he is a Kashmiri-speaking Muslim who hails from Jammu. Earlier, the Congress leadership in New Delhi was divided in their opinion about the change of guard.

A section of party leaders were of the view that Mufti should be used as a 'buffer' and the Congress should be content with playing a second fiddle to consolidate its base in the valley.

The devastating earthquake, however, changed the priorities of the party. The Congress High Command was said to have conveyed to Mufti to stay on for another two months so that relief and rehabiliattion efforts were not disrupted.

But the Chief Minister wanted at least one year's extension. He reportedly said that he was not in favour of continuing on 'daily wages'. Meanwhile, the Congress MLAs upped the ante forcing the party leadership to go for the change.