Sensing defeat, NC and Congress veterans opt out of assembly elections

SRINAGAR: Some of the veteran politicians of the ruling coalition have decided against contesting the assembly elections slated for later this year amid a growing anti-incumbency sentiment against the National Conference-Congress combine.

NC patron Farooq Abdullah and Congress heavyweights Ghulam Nabi Azad and Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz are among those who have opted to stay away. Analysts say this is a reaction to the prevailing situation in the state which suggests that the upcoming polls may send both NC and the Congress into political hibernation. “We both will not be contesting the upcoming polls,” Azad, leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, said about himself and Soz to party workers in Udhampur recently.

“We will carry out extensive campaigning for the party so that the Congress comfortably forms the next government on its own.” Besides NC and Congress leaders, the BJP’s Prof Chaman Lal Gupta has also decided against contesting the assembly polls because his running feud with his party has not settled and he continues to be practically out while his son has succeeded him.

Azad’s decision may have been prompted by his defeat in the recent Lok Sabha polls. Starting out as an acolyte of Sanjay Gandhi, Azad won two Lok Sabha elections in 1980 and 1985 from Washim in Maharashtra and one assembly election in 2006 from his home constituency of Bhaderwah that he contested as CM. For the rest of his career, he has been a member of the Rajya Sabha.

Soz, 77, has had four stints in the Lok Sabha, to which he was elected for the first time in 1983, and one in Rajya Sabha, when the NC expelled him in 1999 for going against the party whip and voting for the fall of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 13-month old government. This brought him in favour with the Congress and since 2002 he has been in the upper house. Analysts say Azad is better placed to win than Soz if both decide to contest.

The Congress is expected to project Azad, 65, as its chief ministerial candidate if it wins. Soz’s son, Salman Anees Soz, is tipped to get the Congress ticket from his home constituency of Baramulla.

On the other hand, Azad’s business tycoon son, Saddam Azad, is not interested in politics. NC patron Farooq Abdullah has been a chief minister three times and the longest serving one after his father Sheikh Abdullah.

Besides, he has had a full term stint as cabinet minister in Manmohan Singh’s cabinet. He has had a stint each in the Rajya Sabha and the LS. The 77-year-old leader tasted his first major defeat in this year’s Lok Sabha polls.