Date:08/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/08/stories/2008110858090700.htm

National

Farooq to re-enter poll arena

Shujaat Bukhari

To contest from Hazratbal; Sonwar also kept in reserve for him

NC fielding 15 former Ministers, 32 new faces
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed unlikely to contest

Farooq Abdullah

SRINAGAR: The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, has formally announced his comeback to electoral politics after his name was cleared by the National Conference parliamentary board to contest in Hazratbal.

‘No risk’

Dr. Abdullah did not contest the 2002 Assembly elections as he had handed over the NC baton to his son Omar Abdullah two years earlier. Mr. Omar Abdullah was later fielded in the family’s traditional Ganderbal Assembly segment, but he was defeated by Qazi Afzal of the People’s Democratic Party. At that time it was a foregone conclusion that Dr. Abdullah would not enter the electoral battle and just remain a father figure for the party. But the list of 65 candidates released by the party on Thursday for the coming Assembly elections contained his name for Hazratbal.

Sources in the party say Sonwar has also been kept in reserve for Dr. Abdullah. The party does not want to take any risk.

Dr. Abdullah’s sister Khalida Shah, who is the wife of another former Chief Minister, Ghulam Mohammad Shah of the Awami National Congress, is also likely to contest from Sonwar.

Calculated move

Party insiders say the NC’s decision is a calculated move to reap the maximum benefit in the elections considering Dr. Abdullah’s profile and charisma. “He is still a popular leader and without him party cannot achieve success,” a senior leader said.

The party has fielded Mr. Omar Abdullah again in Ganderbal counting on the anti-incumbency factor against Mr. Qazi Afzal.

The NC is renominating 15 former Ministers. Among the stalwarts are Abdur Rahim Rather, Mohammad Shafi Uri, Mian Altaf, Chowdhary Ramzan, Ali Mohammad Sagar and Ajay Sadhotra. It is fielding 32 new faces, mostly in the South Kashmir bastion of the PDP. But these candidates are not much known to the electorate and some former MLAs in the area are jittery about the decision.

In the Congress, the former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is likely to contest again in Bhaderwah, from where he was elected for the first time in 2005.

In the PDP camp, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is unlikely to contest. He has nominated Rafi Ahmad Mir to stand in his Pahalgam constituency. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti is likely to enter the fray in Anantnag.