Even before facing the ‘battle of the ballot’, Ghulam Nabi Azad, the star campaigner of the Congress in Jammu & Kashmir has opted out of the race by deciding against contesting 2014 Assembly polls beginning November 25.
On Wednesday the Central Election Committee of the party cleared names of 15 nominees of the party for first two phases of Assembly polls.
Contrary to the expectation, the name of leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad didn’t figure in the list. Azad had successfully contested 2008 Assembly polls from Bhaderwah Assembly segment. He polled 38,238 votes and defeated his nearest rival of BJP by a margin of over 29,000 votes.
Azad’s loyalists and senior Congress Ministers were not happy with the crucial development as they were hoping to rally behind him to boost the chances of Congress candidates in the fray.
The BJP leaders claimed even before the first vote is cast, Azad has conceded defeat by not throwing his hat in the poll arena.
After facing the crushing defeat at the hands of Dr Jitendra Singh of the BJP during lok Sabha polls from Udhampur-Doda seat Azad was not keen on contesting the Assembly polls. Azad is, however, campaigning in the State and is seeking votes from the electorate on the basis of his performance as Chief Minister and Union Health Minister in the previous Government.
The BJP candidate had won the seat by a huge margin of over 60,000 votes. Out of these 15 seats six seats fall in Jammu region.
Five out of these six Assembly seats in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts were previously won by Congress party in 2008 Assembly polls.
Interestingly, the campaign mangers of the Congress in Jammu are not too happy with the absence of Azad in poll fray.
The workers claimed even during the lok Sabha polls the Congress had established a comfortable lead on all six Assembly seats yet the lucky mascot of the party had decided to opt out of the race.
Meanwhile, the mood in the BJP camp is upbeat.
Senior party leaders are concentrating on devising their campaign strategy to woo electorate in erstwhile Doda district. The BJP candidate in lok Sabha finished close second on two Assembly segments of Kishtwar and Ramban even during lok Sabha polls.
The party is banking on the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold a rally in the first phase of polls to consolidate the position of the BJP candidates and ensure their victory.
The congress would be facing tough fight and its sitting MlA’s are expected to beat the strong anti incumbency wave against them besides fighting against the PDP and National Conference in the region.
