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Two Farooq men call it quits

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah has trouble on his hands. From within his own flock.

Minister of State for Ladakh Affairs Togden Rinpoche and Rajya Sabha member Kushok Thiksey, two functionaries of the ruling National Conference, have resigned. Their protest is against the pathetic power supply in Leh, to which they belong.

Dr Abdullah's reaction was to rush two senior ministers there to persuade Rinpoche and Thiksey to stay. Sources said that Rural Development Minister Abdul Rahim Rather and Minister of State for Tourism T Namgyal assured the Buddhist leaders that their demands would be met within a week.

Rinpoche and Thiksey had been demanding immediate steps to improve power supply in Leh, the creation of a new block, and enhanced allowance for government employees in the Ladakh region.

Leh has been facing acute power shortage this summer following the closure of the Stakna Hydel power project. The 5 MW power station was closed as equipment imported for it is yet to arrive.

Leh presently gets just two MW of power from two generators. The ongoing financial crunch further complicated the problem, as diesel was not available for the generators.

Sources said that the ministers have now released money for fuel and equipment.

The Buddhist leaders, however, have not taken back their resignations. "We will withdraw within one week if our demands are accepted," Rinpoche told rediff.com over telephone.

The NC government, he continued, had "callously" turned down his repeated requests for improving the power situation. "It was not possible for me to continue as minister (after that)," he explained.

The NC stood a good chance of winning the Ladakh seat if the present power crisis is sorted out and their other demands met, he added.

Namgyal, for his part, said that he was hopeful the crisis would end soon: "We had fruitful discussions with both Rinpoche and Thiksey."

NC leaders admit that it was thanks to Rinpoche and Thiksey that the party won the 1998 Parliament seat from Ladakh.

"We were shocked when they resigned. They will withdraw their resignations soon," a senior leader said, "Without them it will be difficult to retain the Ladakh seat in view of the growing support for Congress."

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