Kotwal may find going tough in Bhaderwah

BHADERWAH (DODA): State BJP chief Daya Krishan Kotwal has a tough contest on his hand as state Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and sitting legislator Sheikh Abdul Rehman is also contesting from the same assembly segment.
Kotwal’s task has been made tougher by some of his own senior partymen who have propped up Dilip Singh, a rebel candidate,in the field to cut into the BJP leader’s vote share.
Besides Kotwal and Rehman, candidates of the ruling National Conference (NC) and the Congress are also likely to garner substantial votes unlike in 1996 when the first BSP and the BJP candidates had garnered over 90 votes between themselves.
The multi-cornered contest, due to the presence of former advocate-general Aslam Goni (on NC ticket) and Mohammed Sharif Naaz (on Congress ticket) can translate into a narrow margin of victory for any of the major contestants, according to the locals.
State Congress chief Ghulam Nabi Azad criss-crossed the constituency in his private helicopter as he is closely related to his party’s nominee.
Incidentally, the state BJP chief, the BSP chief and the state Congress chief, hail from the same constituency and hence the contest is being closely watched by political observers. If the Congress nominee loses, it will be a serious setback for Azad as he hails from Bhalessa area of the constituency and has been projecting Naaz as his proxy candidate.
Riyaz of Pranoo area says: ``NC candidate Aslam Goni hails from Bhaderwah but has remained away from electoral politics. Besides, he has remained cut off from the public because of his typical highbrow style when he was the advocate-general.
``This is likely to go against him despite his efforts to project himself as someone close to chief minister Farooq Abdullah and a ministerial candidate if the NC forms a government.’’
Incidentally, Goni was awaiting elevation to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court bench when he decided to bid adieu to the top legal position in the state government and jump into the fray on NC mandate.
Senior NC leaders say that Goni is shaky in his maiden electoral battle and claims that he can become a judge of the high court even if he loses at the hustings.
``He has been going around telling his confidantes that contesting on a party ticket is not ground enough for being disqualified from becoming a high court judge.’’
Besides the candidates of the three major national parties and the ruling NC, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has also fielded its candidate, mainly to harm the NC. The young PDP candidate Sheikh Mujib Ali Murtaza is likely to get anti-NC votes and this may create problems for Goni.
Bhaderwah is communally sensitive and a polarization along communal lines with consolidation of Hindu votes in favour of the BJP candidate is a distinct possibility. This is the reason why some other parties have propped up dummy Hindu candidates ates as independents in the fray, according to political observers.
The Congress and the NC candidates are spending money lavishly in their attempts to win over the voters while the BJP and the BSP candidates are concentrating on door-to-door campaigning and contacting each voter individually.
Bhaderwah falls under parliamentary constituency of Union minister of state for defence Chaman Lal Gupta but he has serious differences with the state BJP chief. This is the reason why some of his supporters are not working for Kotwal.
If Kotwal loses by a narrow margin, this is likely to create problems for the BJP during the parliamentary elections later as Kotwal''s supporters may sabotage Gupta''s poll campaign then.