Heading the regional National Conference-Congress alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir for the last over two years now, Omar felt rattled with noises from the middle rung leaders of the Congress demanding rotation of the top job in the state in favor of a Congress nominee.
The chief minister called on the Prime Minister during his recent visit to New Delhi and after meeting Dr. Singh Omar said, “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured me that I will remain the chief minister for full term of six-years.”
Although it is widely believed that the final decision on whether or not the chief minister’s job should be rotated in the state must come from 10-Janpath, Omar believes the assurance from the prime minister is good enough- at least to shoot down dissent in the Congress rank and file within the state.
The Congress leaders had been raising the issue that the party should press for three year term for the post of chief minister in the state, an arrangement that had been worked out with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after the 2002 polls in the state.
Significantly at a Congress party meeting at the state Congress party headquarters here, slogans were raised for rotation of the chief minister’s post with former union minister and parliament member, Karan Singh assuring the party activists that ‘their sentiments would be conveyed to the party high command in New Delhi’.
PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had headed the coalition government for three years followed by a change of guard in the state which saw the senior Congress leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad heading the alliance.
However, the government fell following the 2008 Amarnath land row agitation in Kashmir.
The estrangement between the Congress and the PDP saw the two parties fighting the 2008 polls against each other.
The estranged relations between the Congress party and the PDP paved way for the NC Congress alliance in the state after the 2008 elections.
Omar Abdullah became the chief minister after his father, the NC patron and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah opted out of the race for the post.
Omar’s emergence as the chief ministerial candidate got full backing from the Congress high command and the resulting agreement between the two parties got the present government to power.
Omar had stated before taking oath in January 2009 that there will be no rotation of chief minister’s post and that he would remain chief minister for full six-year term.
However, the recent voices for a rotational chief minister made Omar re-assert his earlier claim that he would remain in saddle for full six-years.
Although the Congress high command is still firmly rallied behind the chief minister, yet at the party level little has been done to stamp the voices raised against Omar’s continuation.
Now that reports from New Delhi also suggest Omar would not be disturbed and would be allowed to head the coalition government in the state, voices of dissent within the local Congress have given rise to an uncertainty of sorts here.
Although for the time being voices against Omar’s continuation appear to have been stamped down, the small fissures in the alliance would come handy for Omar’s rivals in the PDP.
Opposition always sustains its show on hope, cracks in the National Conference-Congress alliance have given renewed hope to the PDP.
