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Cabinet reshuffle results in anti-Abdullah sentiment

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

Resentment is building against Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah from within his own party.

Of late, Dr Abdullah has been systematically trimming the portfolios of senior Cabinet ministers, even as he failed to find berths for heavyweight leaders in the planned reshuffle. And the cumulative impact is now beginning to tell.

MLA Mohammad Shafi Bhat was first off the blocks, taking on his chief minister even in the midst of the oath-taking ceremony for new members of the state council of ministers.

Bhat threatened to resign over the issue of his portfolio, and it took some top party officials a lot of effort to pacify him, albeit temporarily.

Meanwhile, seniormost National Conference leader and former public works minister Ghulam Mohi-Ud Din Shah, who is nominally number two in the state government, is reportedly upset at being forced to shed some of his portfolios.

Other ministers not too happy at what they perceive as unfair treatment include Mustafa Kamal, Bashir Ahmad Kitchloo and Abdul Quyoom. Kamal, the chief minister's younger brother, has much to everyone's surprise been divested of his health portfolio, and now heads the inconsequential medical education department.

Similarly, Agriculture Minister Abdul Rahim Rather is upset, not only at being shifted to rural development, but more because his erstwhile portfolio of agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry has been entrusted to Nissar Ahmad Khan, a former commander of the militant group Al-Jehad.

Interestingly, even those who believed that the chief minister owed them big time are equally displeased -- among them prominent Gujjar leader Mian Altaf.

Altaf's hard work is believed to have been responsible for Omar Abdullah, the chief minister's son, winning the prestigious Srinagar Lok Sabha seat. Further, Altaf is perhaps the only leader in the state with a mass base among the powerful Gujjar community.

Thus, he arrived at the Raj Bhavan at the head of a large band of supporters, expecting due reward for his exertions, but found himself holding the same portfolio despite his elevation to cabinet rank.

The only one who has really come out a winner is the controversial Ali Mohammad Sagar, Minister of State for Home. Sagar has been given a larger slice of the works ministry comprising of irrigation, public health, engineering and flood control.

Analysts point out that neither personal integrity nor job suitability have been considerations in the recent reshuffle. Thus, the chief minister has not dropped ministers proven to be corrupt, it is pointed out.

What is more, say analysts, if the motive behind Dr Abdullah's attempts to cut the various ministers down to size was to stifle dissent, then the exercise has achieved the exact opposite result.

The days to come, political observers say, are liable to be fraught with much interest, as resentment against the chief minister snowballs.

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