Political Correspondent
JAMMU: PDP is in an advantageous position both in the Coalition Government and 10-member PDP-BJP Coordination Committee. Five members belong to PDP and five to BJP and its chairman is BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh. PDP members are all heavy-weights and shrewd politicians and they include Party President Mehbooba Mufti (MP), former Deputy Chief Minister Muzzafar Hussain Baig (MP), former Finance Minister Tariq Hamid Karra (MP), an old hand Abdul Rehman Veeri and Naeem Akhter. Veeri and Akhtar are also Cabinet Ministers. The BJP members – apart from Nirmal Singh – are State BJP President Jugal Kishore Sharma (MP), Thupstan Chewang (MP), Shamsher Singh Manhas ( MP) and Chowdhary Lal Singh. Lal Singh is also Cabinet Minister.
PDP is in commanding position in the Council of Ministers because it has more ministers as compared to BJP. It is also in a commanding position in Coordination Committee because Nirmal Singh, who invariably hails Patron of PDP and J and K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as a “great visionary”, uses his influence to “neutralise” the influence of critics of PDP within his own party. According to credible sources in the party, “PDP has found in the person of Deputy Chief Minister a reliable trouble-shooter”. This observation made by some serious Nirmal Singh-watchers is significant, meaningful and self-explanatory.
That Deputy Chief Minister is quite accommodating became clear on 27th March, when Coordination Committee members met for the first time in Jammu to “sort out some differences” and discuss issues which could be taken up jointly by the two coalition partners. That day, one of the BJP members, as per an insider, “virtually questioned the composition and complexion of the Council of Ministers and the State Cabinet and asked the committee members to change the composition of Council of Ministers by inducting two BJP legislators into it as Minister of State (MoS) in Home Ministry and MoS in General Administration Department (GAD)”. Both the departments, which are very crucial for the State and the government are, it needs to be noted, with the PDP. Home Ministry and GAD don’t have MoS.
The suggestion of the BJP member that BJP must be accommodated in Home Ministry and GAD, according to an insider, didn’t go well with the PDP president.
“PDP President Mehbooba Mufti objected to it in strong terms. She also rejected outright the demand of the BJP leader. Mehbooba Mufti had asked in the meeting how it could be possible. The BJP member held his ground firmly, took on Mehbooba Mufti and put across his point of view. He asked her to listen to him?” the insider informed. The insider further informed that “Nirmal Singh, instead of supporting his party colleague, remained neutral”. “He created a piquant situation for his party colleague by practically disapproving of the demand for the induction of two BJP legislators into the Home Ministry and GAD as MoS. Other BJP members in the meeting also remained mum,” the insider made another startling revelation. If this insider is to be believed, then one can say that it was the BJP which defeated the BJP in the Coordination Committee meeting.
That the Deputy Chief Minister is also a great fan of the Chief Minister also became clear on 18th April. That day, while addressing members of the J and K BJP Executive Committee at Katra, near Jammu, Nirmal Singh, according to another insider, informed that “the Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed likes the BJP ministers”. It was not an ordinary statement; it was a very significant, as it indicated the nature of relationship between him the Chief Minister. It is, however, a different story that one minister in response, again according to an insider, said “that the liking is indicative of the fact that BJP ministers have deviated from party’s agenda”. He further revealed that the minister also said, “If Mufti likes the BJP ministers, it means that they have deviated from party’s agenda and surrendered” and that “some people from both within the party and outside are trying to weaken it”.
No wonder that PDP is depending on the Deputy Chief Minister for getting things done in New Delhi and that the Chief Minister has charged him with responsibility of overseeing steps being taken to implement the Agenda of Alliance. One can understand the statements of the Minister that “if Mufti likes the BJP ministers, it means that they have deviated from party’s agenda and surrendered” and that “some people from both within the party and outside are trying to weaken it”.
