Jammu: DPAP president Ghulam Nabi Azad’s autobiography has raised the political temperature in Jammu and Kashmir, with his party, PDP, and Congress entangled in a war of words over Azad’s account of the events in the run-up to the formation of Congress-PDP coalition government in 2002.
In his book, ‘Azaad: An Autobiography’, Azad claimed that Peoples Democratic Party founder Late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed misused his “generosity” to become chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir in 2002.
Azad said that he offered Sayeed to be part of the government when he (Azad) had a letter of support from 42 MLAs to become CM. “With the letter of support of 42 MLAs in my hand, I telephoned the governor, and he invited me the following day to discuss the date of oath-taking. I informed Sonia ji about the developments over telephone. She was happy to hear that I was now taking charge of government formation,” Azad claims.
“A few hours before the meeting with the governor, around 8.00 a.m., I was in the balcony of my room of Hotel Broadway in Srinagar, having tea with Ashok Bhan, a friend, Congressman and lawyer of the Supreme Court, when a thought occurred to me. Perhaps it was driven by emotion. I told Bhan that I should ask Mufti’s party to join the government. I had a long family association with him, which I had maintained even after his split with the Congress. Though I did not need his backing to form the government, I believed that with him on board, the government would be even more stable and could perform better. Besides, he had been a Congressman, and his MLAs could be co-opted in the government,” the former CM claims.’
Azad further says Mufti made him wait, saying he needs 3-4 days to think over the proposal.
The former CM claims that he trusted Mufti and didn’t spot his deviousness.
“I should have seen through his game plan then and gone ahead with the oath-taking; after all, his party could have joined the government later. But I trusted him implicitly and did not spot his deviousness,” he writes.
He said Mufti confirmed his participation in his government when he and Dr. Manmohan Singh, the then leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, met him in Srinagar. “I returned to Delhi and narrated the whole story to Sonia ji. It was decided that Dr Manmohan Singh, then the LoP in the Rajya Sabha, and I would fly to Srinagar and meet the PDP leader to firm up his party’s inclusion in the government. The following day, Dr Singh and I went to Srinagar and had lunch with Mufti, during which he confirmed his party’s participation in the government,” he adds.
According to Azad, Mufti got up in an agitated state during the meeting called by Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi for announcing the alliance when he was asked to give names of 5-6 names from his party who could be accommodated as ministers.
“Thereafter, Sonia ji invited Mufti to Delhi for the final announcement of the alliance. I, too, was present at the meeting. Mufti thanked the Congress president and me for agreeing to his party’s participation in the government. But when he was asked for names from his party who could be part of my government, he suddenly got up in an agitated state and exclaimed, ‘I thought that I had been invited to be the chief minister!’ Sonia ji and I were aghast and said that no such indication or assurance had been given from our side at any point of time. Mufti nearly shouted back that he had been called to Delhi to be insulted. ‘Why was I called? I could have been informed over the telephone.’ It was clear that he wanted to hijack the government,” Azad says.
He writes that he himself intervened and requested Sonia Gandhi that a power-sharing arrangement could be worked by which he would be CM for the first three years and Mufti for the next three years.
“However, Mufti, having got a toehold, now wanted full entry through the door. He insisted on being the CM for the first three years. Sonia ji was in no mood to relent. Again, I requested her that in the larger interest of the state, we should agree to his demand. That is how Mufti, whose party had come third in the elections, with just 16MLAs, became the CM, while I, despite having the support of 42 MLAs, had to return to national politics,” he says.
In 2002 elections, National Conference won 28 seats, Congress 20 seats and Peoples Democratic Party 16 seats.
PDP leader Nayeem Akhtar on Thursday rubbished claims made by Azad, saying his statements did not add up to a “very credible presentation of facts”.
“I think what Azad said does not add up to a very credible presentation of facts. Azad is reported to claim that he had 42 MLAs with him. Then why didn’t he straight away go and stake the claim (to government formation),” Akhtar told PTI.
The former bureaucrat, who was a close aide of Sayeed, wondered how a party with just 16 members could “blackmail” Gandhi on government formation.
“It’s a narrative that Azad has presented. He has been the longest player at the national level, he has been quite an important player in national politics but our limited concern is about what has been reported in the press as part of this book related to the 2002 formation of the PDP-Congress ministry in the state.
“How could a party with 16 members at number 3 in the table of seats blackmail Sonia Gandhi form a government with the chief minister (coming) from that party of 16?” he asked.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Congress has also slammed its former member Ghulam Nabi Azad, saying his statements on Narendra Modi are contrary to the speeches he gave in Parliament and by praising the prime minister, he was only exposing himself.
Azad, a veteran politician and former Union minister, on Wednesday, lavished praise on Modi while launching an all-out attack on the Congress party.
