Has The NC Turned Against Omar Abdullah? J&K CM Faces Fire From Own Party For Failure To Fulfil Electoral Promises

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is facing criticism from his own party members in Kashmir over his failures in governance, bringing divisions within the ruling National Conference (NC) to the fore. Omar’s relations with Congress are also on a rough patch currently after the NC didn’t leave a Rajya Sabha seat for the alliance partner, on which it believed that it could have won the elections.

Earlier this month, NC lost one Rajya Sabha seat to the BJP in the elections for the four seats of the upper house of parliament. The ruling party, which has been claiming the support of independent members in the government, now appears dependent on the Congress for survival after allegations of cross-voting by some independent members in favour of the BJP that enabled the victory of one of its candidates.

The ruling NC currently has the strength of only 41 MLAs, which is short by four members to stay in power, and only with the Congress party’s support of six members, it crosses the majority mark.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Monga, however, says there was no threat to the coalition government and that they would continue to be part of the alliance, even as the party has no representation in Jammu and Kashmir’s council of ministers. “We are committed to running the government with the NC,” he says.

Omar: A Weak Chief Minister?

But Omar remains a beleaguered CM, seen as one of the weakest in the country under the UT arrangement with the police directly under the control of the Central government through the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha. Omar has routinely refused to answer questions about the police, saying he lacks jurisdiction. 

At a recent press conference this month, which was convened at a Srinagar hotel, near his Gupkar house, Omar, when asked about the claims by his deputy chief minister,  Surinder Kumar Choudhary, that his security has been curtailed to obstruct his work, said that the question pertained to the police and he was not in a position to answer it.  

Due to a lack of powers, Omar has not been able to fulfil the key electoral promise of repealing the Public Safety Act (PSA), which was originally brought to check timber smuggling in Kashmir, but was used to detain him after the revocation of Article 370, and the youth accused of indulging in anti-India activities. The detention orders are being issued under the PSA by executive magistrates. The law has been described as draconian, with human rights bodies calling for its repeal.

Friendly Fire? Dissent Brews Within NC

Apart from differences with the Congress, Omar is also facing dissent from within the party. The chief minister has repeatedly faced attacks from his party MP, Aga Ruhulla, over being soft towards the BJP and for his failure to deliver on the restoration of Article 370.  Srinagar MP Ruhulla has also refused to campaign for the party from the Budgam assembly seat, which is headed for voting next month.

NC’s other MP, Mian Altaf, from Anantnag-Poonch parliamentary seat, has also urged CM Omar not to make public statements without proper thought. The diatribe followed Omar's press conference in which he said his relatives' households were also connected to smart electricity meters, which was seen as justifying their use. Prior to last year's elections, Omar had opposed the installation of smart meters and promised 200 units of free electricity.

“It is better for Omar sahib that since he is now on CM’s chair and whatever he says, he should do this with proper thought,” Altaf said at a media conclave this month.

The differences within the NC have come to light, with some MLAs calling for Ruhullah, who was elected as an MP on the NC ticket, to step down.

Opposition Says Its Stance Vindicated By NC Dissenters

For being cornered by his own party men, Omar has also faced criticism from the opposition, which has said that its stance that the NC leader has failed to deliver on governance promises is being corroborated by leaders from his own party.

BJP chief spokesperson, Sunil Sethi, says that the public denouncements made by NC MPs against their own leadership vindicate their stance that Omar has failed to deliver on the governance front. “Since Omar’s own MP is pointing out the governance failure, we believe that the performance of the chief minister in the last year has been zero. Omar is surrounded by people who are politically immature, and not only has he failed on the governance front, but he has annoyed the leaders in his own party, which only betrays a lack of leadership skills,” says Sethi.

The Aga Ruhulla Factor

With his MP Ruhulla drawing more praise from the opposition, this has also pitted other NC MLAs against the leader.

NC’s Banihal MLA, Sajad Shaheen, says that Ruhulla should rather resign from his position in parliament, which he holds on an NC ticket, and join the UT politics, than teach his own leader, Omar, who is the party's vice president, how to govern better.  

“Aga Ruhulla was made MP by the NC. Omar sahib left the Srinagar seat for him to contest on the hard seat of Baramulla in the parliamentary elections last year. If he (Ruhulla) believes that NC, as a party, is unable to deliver, he must resign then,” says Shaheen.

Abdul Majeed Larmi, another NC MLA, says that the Srinagar MP should resign. He says he stands by his statement, made a few days ago, that the Srinagar MP should step down if he feels the NC as a party has failed to deliver.

Despite Ruhulla's scathing attack on Omar, he has attended party meetings in the past. This was seen by some political parties as a ploy by the NC to reaffirm their party position on key issues by allowing Srinagar MP to publicly speak about them, which Omar, as CM, can’t.  The party has defended Omar’s praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi at earlier functions held in Jammu and Kashmir, terming it part of the limits that being in government places on a chief minister, describing it as routine official pleasantries.

However, for now, the damage to the party seems immediate, with several voters in the Budgam assembly segment saying that Ruhulla's public posture against the NC could make the contest for the seat tougher. NC is pitted against PDP and some independent members on the Budgam seat, from where Ruhulla was elected as MLA several times. The seat was vacated by CM Omar last year to retain Ganderbal in Central Kashmir.

With no action coming from NC against Ruhulla, his party colleagues, however, don’t see him floating another party. “I don’t think that Ruhulla would launch his own party. We have seen what happened to other parties in the elections last year. They all lost the polls,” says Shaeen.