SRINAGAR: In a clear rebuff to the youngest scion Omar Abdullah, the grand old ruling clan of Abdullahs is set to project its patriarch Farooq Abdullah as “CM candidate” in the forthcoming elections for the state’s local assembly. “We have to redeem the party. The disconnect with the people proved disastrous for us,” National Conference’s outspoken leader and Omar’s uncle, Sheikh Mustafa Kamal said in an interview. He indicated that Omar had failed to provide dynamic leadership to the party in terms of being a political mobilizer as well as an effective administrator.
Kamal said that during the forthcoming polls for assembly in J&K, NC will have Farooq Abdullah as its face and that due to his absence from the party affairs during the past five years, the NC has suffered a lot. He was representing the state in the Parliament but at the same time our party suffered as there is no one like him. He is a real statesman and NC cadres identift with him here at large.
Terming Farooq a “one-man army” that can take on the rivals, Kamal who is also the brother of NC patron remarked that there is no other choice with NC but to ask Farooq to lead the party. To all of us, he is the best leader and a seasoned politician. As he was busy in Delhi during the past five years, now we know that he will turn the tables around.
Kamal also maintained that the main reason for the recent debacle of NC was its disconnect with the people in general and party activists in particular. Yes we have to admit that we were not connected to our cadre as we should have been. Now the time has come when we have to rectify the wrongs.
The 87-member legislative assembly is completing term on January 5 net year but the elections are due anytime by the yearend.
“Farooq is 77. He is still charismatic. But he has tasted his life’s first defeat at the hands of a newcomer, Taiq Karra. This debacle in parliament elections will be a huge baggage while he sets out to redeem the party from the abyss it has been cast into by the Young Turks pampered by his tech-savvy son,” says an analyst.
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