J-K: Congress Sets For Major Overhaul In Kashmir After Poor Show In Assembly Polls

Addressing the workers in Srinagar the party's J&K president Tariq Hameed Karra announced that all the committees stand dissolved. Reports ETV Bharat's Mir Farhat

Srinagar: Following its poll debacle and the subsequent rebellion against the new president, Tariq Hameed Karra, the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) is set for a major organisational overhaul, which is indicative of culling the opposing voices within the party in the Kashmir Valley.

Karra’s Announcement

Karra today announced that all the posts except the post of the treasurer and spokesperson stand dissolved. “I have dissolved all the posts except treasurer and spokesperson to run the party affairs,” he said.

“This is a precedent in the Congress party that with the appointment of a new president at the state level or the central level, all posts and committees are dissolved. We will have a new structure soon,” he told party workers at an event organised to pay tributes to late Congress president and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 40th death anniversary.

“So to fall prey to any misunderstanding and unrest. I have formed a disciplinary committee that will suggest action against those about whom we are discussing. If the committee recommends their expulsion, we won't hesitate to take action no matter how senior the leader is; he will be expelled,” Karra said, in an apparent reference to the recent rebellion and criticism he faced from at least 22 party leaders and senior workers after the debacle in assembly elections.

Rebellion Against Karra

Several party leaders recently held a meeting in Srinagar and submitted a resolution to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, demanding the removal of Karra as Jammu and Kashmir chief. They also accused Karra of “organisational misconduct”, “electoral malpractices”, and “financial mismanagement during the assembly elections.”

"I will not talk about it in the media; I do not want to make it a media debate," Karra told ETV Bharat, referring to the leaders and reports about the rebellion.

When asked about the action he will be taking against these leaders, he said, “That is up to the disciplinary committee.”

Congress Leaders Boycott Event

Ostensibly, the rebel leaders boycotted today's tribute function headed by Karra. One of them told ETV Bharat that Karra had invited his workers from the Central Shalteng constituency of Srinagar when the leadership in Jammu had invited all to participate, but in Srinagar Karra “did pick and choose.”

Responding to Karra's dissolution of the announcement, the senior vice president of JKPCC and an old Congress loyalist, Muhammad Anwar Bhat, said that Karra is a “caretaker who has no competence to dissolve committees.”

“He has no competence; he is a caretaker; he has no confirmation yet of his presidential post; he is a charge. All committees and posts are assigned and formed by the All India Congress Committee (AICC). AICC has the authority to form and dissolve committees, not the PCC presidents,” Bhat told ETV Bharat.

Bhat is among the 22 leaders who are signatories to the resolution against Karra and demand his removal.

Congress’s Poll Debacle In J&K

The Congress party faced a major poll debacle by not winning a single seat in Jammu province, where it contested 30 seats in alliance with the National Conference.

The BJP, which reportedly was facing anti-incumbency and resentment after August 5, 2019, defeated the Congress in the districts of Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua, and Samba—the Hindu-populated districts of the Jammu region. Congress managed to win five seats in the Kashmir valley and a Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved constituency of Rajouri.

Since the poll debacle and a previous defeat in parliamentary elections in Jammu and Udhampur, the Congress party is facing an internal crisis and an existential crisis in Jammu.

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