NEW DELHI: Congress high command summons Jammu and Kashmir leaders; discontent over state president Vikar Rasool Wani’s leadership style discussed, unity emphasised.
As the top 25 leaders were summoned from Jammu and Kashmir by the Congress high command for a pre-election meeting earlier this week. Sources indicate that the the top three leaders of the party including Rahul Gandhi were not happy with the functioning of the state unit president Vikar Rasool Wani who is said to be running the cadre at his whims and fancies.
Although Rahul Gandhi, according to party insiders, had given a larger message to all the present leaders in the meeting to work unitedly, senior party leader KC Venugopal however pointed out Wani’s maladministration and indicated the feedback proving that he is not working in association with senior leaders in the Union Territory.
Another senior Congress leader present in the meeting said, “He (Wani) was indirectly snubbed by all the top three leaders, Malikarjun Kharge, KC Venugopal and Rahul Gandhi, present in the meeting. They did not talk about any kind of change that could happen at the party but they were also not happy with him. Yet no consequence happened there as it all revolved around the feedback and suggestions from the top leadership that we should work unitedly.”
Moreover, it was expected by the high command that the party would get at least one seat from the Jammu region, to which Wani had responded by explaining the positives of the increased vote share of the party under his leadership.
However, according to one leader, Venugopal was not convinced and hit back by saying that the increased vote share was of no consequence.
Another senior Congress leader said, “Whatever happened in the meeting, or the kind of theme that all the meetings of election-bound states like Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Haryana had were same. The message was to work unitedly. Even in the state of Jharkhand where the high command wants to change the state unit president, the theme of their meeting was also the same. But there have been no talks about changing anything or appointing anyone.”
However, after the end of the meeting, there were projections in some media outlets in the union territory that suggested that a chief minister candidate was marked out in the meeting, further flashing out the names of Vikar Rasool Wani and Ghulam Ahmed Mir.
According to a leader, all these claims are rumours being created to serve the interests of these two leaders.