Mufti term ending, Cong weighs options

Till recently, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad—frontrunner for CM’s job—had let it be known that he was not interested in moving. But of late, he has been non-committal after other names started cropping up: Rajya Sabha MP Saifuddin Soz, former PCC chief Ghulam Rasool Kar and present PCC president Peerzada Mohammed Sayed. Unlike Azad, who comes from Doda in Jammu, all of them are from the Valley. Azad realises that if he shows signs of opting out, he may not get a good deal in Delhi if Sonia decides to continue with Mufti.

Sonia, sources said, has received feedback from National Security Advisor M K Narayanan about the security scenario, too. She wants to study the impact that a change would have on the peace process, they added.

But if her planned visit to the state next month comes through, it would be a ‘life as usual’ signal. Her dilemma, anyway, remains what it was in 2002 when PDP-Congress came to power:

• A Congress CM would be seen as being synonymous with Delhi. Especially after the municipal polls this year when people felt—for the first time—that they can make governments.

• The PDP, being a regional entity, has managed to eat into Hurriyat space.

• A CM from Jammu may not go down well in the Valley. As Mufti said, ‘‘People in the Valley will say that we had this one thing going and even that has been taken aways.’’

Mufti has, however, announced that he’ll step down on November 2. ‘‘I will not do anything to stay on by manipulating things and lose all the goodwill I’ve built,’’ he told The Indian Express.

But PDP stays, ‘‘it will be a regional party system taking over in the Valley for all time to come,’’said J-K’s Congress Minister Ghulam Ahmed Mir.

The Congress may also lose ground in Jammu, where leaders fear that the BJP is waiting. ‘‘If Mufti can do all this (PM’s package of Rs 24,000 crore) with the backing of Sonia Gandhi, Congressmen feel that our man can do more. But she (Sonia) has not played politics in J-K,’’ says Mir.