Why Congress stayed out of Omar's new Jammu and Kashmir govt

Jammu Kashmir National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah took oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar on Wednesday (October 16). Surinder Chaudhary, who defeated BJP’s J&K chief Ravinder Raina in the Nowshera Assembly segment of the Pir Panjal region of Jammu, was sworn in as the deputy chief minister.

In a move that surprised some, the Congress said it would not join the government as of now, though it fought the election with the NC as part of the INDIA bloc.

Little unanimity

There was no unanimity within the Congress on which of its six MLAs should be given a ministerial berth. The NC had suggested the name of Dooru MLA Ghulam Ahmed Mir.

Mir is a former J&K PCC chief and is currently also the Congress in-charge for Jharkhand. On Tuesday, the party high command also decided to appoint Mir as the Leader of the Congress Legislative Party in J&K.

Since the NC was willing to offer just one ministerial berth to the Congress, there were also made claims to this slot by Tariq Hameed Karra, the current J&K PCC chief who won from Srinagar's Central Shalteng seat despite an NC rebel contesting against him.

Karra's candidature

Karra, a founding member of the PDP, had defeated Farooq Abdullah from Srinagar in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He had later switched to the Congress in 2017, after being publicly critical of the PDP's alliance with the BJP.

Many believe the NC would not have accepted Karra as a minister because of his past acrimony with the Abdullahs and, more importantly, as he hails from Srinagar, the NC's main electoral pocket borough in Kashmir.

No rift, says Karra

Karra, however, dismissed the idea of any rift within the party or coalition. “Yes, we have decided to stay out of the Cabinet for now, but the government has our full support. There is no rift either within the party or with the NC as far as Cabinet formation is concerned,” he told The Federal.

“We have our own considerations to weigh in and the leadership will do that. We will continue to fight for all the promises that we made to the people of J&K during the election campaign, the most important of which was the restoration of statehood for J&K. On this, the NC, Congress and others supporting the government are one,” he added.

Difficult choice

Congress sources also say of its six candidates who have been elected, four — Karra, Mir, Peerzada Mohammed Syed, and Nizumuddin Bhat — have been Cabinet ministers in J&K in the past. This also made it difficult for the party to choose just one Cabinet minister.

Besides, in the past J&K governments, a bulk of the Congress’s ministers used to come from the Jammu region to solve the regional and religious representation issue for NC. However, since the Congress was wiped out of Jammu this time, it could not have chosen any Hindu face from Jammu to be part of the government.

What Congress lost

Allowing a Congress minister from Central Kashmir/Srinagar would have helped the Congress expand its footprint in the NC-dominated region. Mir, on the other hand, comes from Anantnag district in South Kashmir, a traditional PDP bastion.

Given the hard choice between Mir and Karra, the Congress high command decided to not join the Abdullah government for now. They may bargain for two ministerial berths or use this time to sort out the contesting claims of Karra and Mir.

However, a section of the party feels staying out of the government would allow the Congress to act as a stronger pressure group on the NC to get poll promises fulfilled while also giving party leaders time to strengthen the party on the ground in both Jammu and Kashmir divisions.