Srinagar, June 17: Playing down the factionalism in the state Congress, senior AICC leader and close confidant of Gandhi family Makhan Lal Fotedar Thursday said there could be differences between the individuals in the party but at the organisational level there were no differences in the state Congress.
He said Congress has assigned separate roles to both the state Congress chief Prof Saif-ud-din Soz and the union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and they both were working on their respective assignments.
“There are no differences in the state Congress. Ghulam Nabi Azad is a cabinet minister in the union government while as Saif-ud-din Din Soz is PCC president. Both have their responsibilities cut out and they are doing their respective jobs,” Fotedar, currently in the Valley, told Greater Kashmir.
He, however, was quick to concede that there might be “differences of opinion” in some matters between the individuals (Azad and Soz) but these were being sorted out. “Congress is a democratic party and here everyone is entitled to have his opinion but the individual opinions don’t override the party decisions,” he said.
Fotedar, who is in valley for past several days and is interacting with the Congress workers, said Azad chose to be in the union government rather than to be a Deputy Chief Minister in a coalition Government headed by Omar Abdullah.
Fotedar who was a cabinet minister in the Congress government led by Syed Mir Qasim in ’70s, refused to comment whether the Congress want continuation of the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for six years as coalition head. “The coalition government will stay. That is it,” he said.
He revealed that had Mufti Muhammad Sayeed been allowed to stay for six years as the Chief Minister of the state things would have been different. “The then Pakistan president Parvez Musharraf had come up with some proposals including making LoC as permanent border and free movement of people on both sides of LoC. Then there was change of guard here and things couldn’t move forward,” he said.
He expressed satisfaction over the increase in the party membership both in Jammu and in Kashmir.
Asked if the Congress would go all alone in the Panchayat elections and local bodies’ polls, he said, “The decision would be taken at appropriate moment.” he added.

Quote Unquote

*There are differences between individuals

* Ghulam Nabi Azad,Saif-ud-Din Soz have separate roles

* Differences of opinion being sorted out

* Azad preferred to be in union govt rather  than be Dy CM in the coalition govt headed by Omar Abdullah

* Had Mufti Sayeed been allowed to stay as JK’s CM for 6 yrs things would have been different

Lastupdate on : Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST