The divide between the Congress in Jammu and some of its senior leaders in Delhi over the 55-day-long Amarnath agitation was evident on Monday. Senior party leaders and former state ministers told newspersons here that those urging the high command in Delhi to accept the demands of the Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti (SASS), especially the removal of Governor N N Vohra, were doing it in their individual capacity and not on behalf of the party’s state unit.“Recalling Governor Vohra is not our party line,” Congress leaders Mangat Ram Sharma, Gulchain Singh Charak and Mula Ram said after a meeting of party workers at Sharma’s residence. They also backed the Azad government’s decision to cancel allotment of 800 kanals of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) following protests in the Valley, saying this had been done in good faith.The statement by these leaders comes at a time when two sitting Congress MPs from Jammu, along with nearly a dozen former legislators, are in Delhi urging the high command to accept SASS demands. “Our intentions were clear when we passed the revocation order. Now, respecting the sentiments of the people, we want the the issue to be resolved at the earliest,” Charak, who along with Sharma was a minister in the Azad government, said.
