NC-Congress coalition in troubled waters

With Parliament elections round the corner, it seems coalition partners Congress and National Conference (NC) in Jammu and Kashmir are at loggerheads with each other and have decided to contest the polls without any tie-up.

Though making allegations and accusations against each other is nothing new, in the recent few weeks, leaders from both the parties have traded allegations and accusations in public, making the possibility of pre-poll alliance more distant.

In his recent visit to the state, senior Congress leader and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad gave vent to his concern that the spirit of alliance has not seeped to the ground level (workers). He regretted that Congress workers had been neglected.

Reacting to Azad’s statement, Davender Rana, NC provincial president, Jammu and a trusted lieutenant of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah issued a hard-hitting statement declaring that his party workers and functionaries have all along been pitching for going to polls separately.
Political observers believe that the coalition partners have made up their mind that there is no chance of pre-poll alliance and both are preparing the ground for separate contests.

“But it can also be a strategy to feel the pulse of the people as both the parties have left the final decision to their respective high commands. Anything anytime is possible in politics,” a senior political observer told Deccan Herald..