Congress's weekend conclave authorizing Sonia Gandhi to appoint new PCC boss

SRINAGAR: The Congress in J&K is mending the fences within. It is working to have a day long convention in Srinagar on May 19 in which around 350 delegates will authorize the Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi to appoint the new state president. Currently, former union minister Prof Saif ud Din Soz is heading the faction ridden state Congress.

Sources in the party said union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and party’s Chief spokesperson Janardan Dwivedi (MP) would attend the meeting besides the old party loyalist Makhan Fotedar. The convention taking place after a long time in the state is expected to review the overall political situation in the state. At the end of the deliberations, the convention will adopt a resolution asked Mrs Gandhi to appoint a new president. The meeting was convened by Mohan Prakash, the in-charge secretary general.

There is possibility of Prof Soz being nominated for the second term.

With state elections being held in late 2014, Congress has started asserting with the coalition government. Party issues apart, the exercise is aimed at pressuring Omar Abdullah to fill the berths that genuinely belong to the Congress. Ghulam Nabi Azad has already made this demand publicly last month. Though Azad and Soz represent two different power centres within the Congress, they are apparently united on one issue that the Congress is being unfairly treated in the coalition.