Omar Abdullah faces internal dissent as NC MLAs raise concerns over leadership

National Conference is facing growing internal dissent, with some MLAs questioning chief minister Omar Abdullah’s leadership following the resignation of Aga Ruhullah as Srinagar MP on November 3.

The developments have forced party president Farooq Abdullah to intervene, calming the dissident legislators’ tempers and assuring action on their demands at a meeting on Friday.

The party leadership has sought to portray Ruhullah’s resignation as a success of BJP’s alleged “Operation Lotus” in Kashmir even as the discontent appears to go beyond the MP’s departure, with legislators raising concerns about the chief minister’s style of functioning and the influence of his close aides.


“There is a crisis of trust,” a disgruntled MLA said, alleging that Omar Abdullah listens only “to his friends and those who speak English and drink coffee.”

The appointment of Nasir Aslam Wani as an advisor to the CM has emerged as a source of resentment. Wani had lost the assembly election from Kupwara, and some party legislators are now demanding his removal.

Another NC legislator said Farooq Abdullah may have groomed his son as his successor, but Omar is yet to get a grip on how to “talk to a colleague” or handle a “political crisis.”

However, some MLAs said the electoral performance, winning 42 seats out of 90 in the union territory, has made it hard for the leadership to understand the “deep disappointment” within and outside the party.

The developments are seen as “a crack in the wall” of the party that has survived many tumultuous upheavals since its formation back in 1938, barring two major events in 1953 and 1984. In 1953, NC founder Sheikh Abdullah, who was the Prime Minister of erstwhile state of J&K, was arrested and jailed following which his trusted lieutenant Ghulam Muhammad Bakshi took over the reigns of J&K as the PM. In 1984, Ghulam Muhammad Shah, brother-in-law of Farooq Abdullah, led a rebellion within NC, following which Farooq Abdullah was removed as CM and Shah took over as CM of J&K.

For now, Farooq Abdullah’s charisma, cleverness and connections in New Delhi seem to have held the party together. But the growing criticism poses a challenge for Omar Abdullah.

One of the MLAs even said that in absence of his father’s counsel and presence, the CM may not even be able to handle “a murmuring of opposition within and outside.”