In Kashmir, Sonia will battle the flames in Congress

JAMMU - In a state where the Islamist insurgency shows no signs of ending, Congress president Sonia Gandhi will have a more pressing task on hand when she visits Jammu and Kashmir Saturday: ending the intensifying feuds within her party.

Once she opens a tribal cultural centre in Jammu and addresses a Gujjar community function, Gandhi will also have to address the growing frictions between the Congress and the ruling National Conference.

Congress sources say Gandhi is not happy at the way the two known factions in the state unit of the party run down each other.

The two groups are led by state Congress chief Saif-ud-Din Soz and central Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, a former chief minister.

“Madam (Gandhi) will address all issues, including the performance of the government, and the strengths and weaknesses of the coalition partners,” a senior Congress leader told IANS on condition of anonymity.

He admitted that the continuing feud between the two factions of Congress was a matter of concern for the party leadership.

“Soniaji is aware of all this and she would address this issue,” the patty leader said.

The Congress president will also have to iron out the creases that have emerged between the National Conference and Congress.

In the past 16 months of the coalition government, the second in a row since October 2002, things have been far from smooth between the two parties.

“It’s like the repeat of old times when the Congress and National Conference joined hands only to break up after some time,” a Conference leader told IANS.

Of late, differences have surfaced between the two ruling partners, who are clearly not happy with each other’s performance.

They have been making noises about which of the two is a better political party and committed to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Soz had said recently that while the coalition has to be strengthened, the Congress alone can deliver better in the state.

Despite Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s denials of differences within the coalition, the leaders of the National Conference too have voiced their concerns vis-a-vis the Congress, both in private and public.

From Jammu, Gandhi will go to Srinagar to lay the foundation stone for a olony for Dal Lake dwellers.

Gandhi’s visit comes ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s scheduled trip to the state June 7.