Eager to get Ghulam Nabi Azad back in Rajya Sabha, Congress woos National Conference

NEW DELHI: Congress is ardently wooing the National Conference (NC) for support in Rajya Sabha elections, desperate as it is to secure re-nomination of leader of opposition in the Upper House Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The principal opposition party fell to a tally of 12 MLAs in the recently-held assembly polls which is short of the strength required to win an RS seat. A failure here would not just hurt Azad’s prospects but also Congress that wants him to lead the opposition charge in the Upper House where the BJP government lacks the numbers.
Negotiations with NC are learnt to be at a critical stage, with the full weight of Congress behind them. The party has invoked “Kashmir pride”, underlining that Azad is the first leader of opposition in Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir.
Working in favour of Congress is the fact that NC of the Abdullahs also lacks the numbers (15 MLAs) to win an RS seat. However, if Congress and NC come together, they will have the assured backing of three other MLAs — enough to win the berth for Azad.
In return, Congress is learnt to have offered NC help in legislative council elections. Sources said the Kashmir outfit, with which Congress ran a coalition government under Omar Abdullah till close to elections, could be given two seats in successive elections to the state upper House to seal the deal.
Separately, neither NC nor Congress can win either in RS or legislative council. Also, the largest outfit in the state, PDP of Mufti Mohd Sayeed, is already in talks with BJP for government formation.
“We want Azad in Parliament. Besides, we cannot be losing numbers in RS,” a party functionary said, adding supremo Sonia Gandhi could call the Abdullahs if the groundwork was done.
Worries for Congress are as much on returning Azad -- a minority face, Kashmiri and veteran party man -- to Parliament as on its RS tally that will progressively go down given the number of states slipping out of its hands.
The death of former minister Murli Deora has already dealt a blow to Congress as the party cannot win a seat from Maharashtra after its abject defeat at the hands of BJP in assembly elections last October.