Srinagar, Nov 6 (IANS) Dissident ruling National Conference (NC) MLAs on Friday reached the residence of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Srinagar city to raise their demands with the party high command.
The group of dissidents was led by senior NC leader and six-time MLA, Mubarak Gul and others, including Abdul Majeed Larmi, Justice (Retd), Hasnain Masoodi, Nazir Ahmad Gurezi, Qaiser Jamsheed Lone, and Pirzada Farooq Shah, was meeting the party high command.
The dissidents are likely to present a list of demands, including the removal of Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary or at least divesting him of the R&B portfolio.
The dissidents are also demanding the removal of Nasir Aslam Wani, the advisor to the chief minister; an end to alleged interference in party affairs by NC MP Shammi Oberoi; and the dropping of ministers from the council of ministers who have completed two years in cabinet.
The dissidents are meeting the party high command, and the outcome of the meeting will depend on their capacity to persuade Omar and his father to concede to these demands or at least work for a via media. In all likelihood, the party high command does not seem to be ready to concede ground to the dissidents.
The outcome of the meeting will determine whether the party high command takes the dissent as a threat to the NC’s power in Jammu and Kashmir or as a passing cloud of momentary anger.
The dissent in NC started after Omar Abdullah reshuffled his cabinet, and senior NC leader Mubarak Gul told reporters that he had attended 20 swearing-in ceremonies of the council of ministers, but had each time not been included in the cabinet.
Another NC MLA, Abdul Majeed Larmi, had literally broken down when he told reporters about his loyalty to the party and the neglect he had been facing at the hands of the party high command.
Earlier, both NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah and CM Omar Abdullah offered condolences to the bereaved NC MLA, Ahsan Pardesi, whose father, Sheikh Gulam Qadir Pardesi, passed away on Wednesday.
–IANS
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