SRINAGAR: Leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha and former chief minister of the state,Ghulam Nabi Azad could be named as Congress candidate for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat that fell vacant following resignation of chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.In a significant development, top Congress leadersat Delhi have unanimously given their nod to project Ghulam Nabi Azad as candidate for vacant Lok Sabha Anantnag Seat. Highly placed sources in state Congress told that in a meeting of top party leaders held at Delhi on Monday a decision to this effect was arrived at unanimously.They said that a formal communication post meeting was sent to Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, for final nod and it is expected that she would come up with her decision very soon.Other two leaders who are in panel are JKPCC president Ghulam Ahmad Mir and former Haj and Auqaf Minister, Peerzada Muhammad Syed. Sources said that only difficulty that might restrict Ghulam Nabi Azad from contesting is his busy schedule to campaign for Congress in states like Uttar Pradesh which are bound to enter in polls in coming months.”Sonia will see if Azad can be freed from Campaigning for congress leaders in other states and would never like to miss an opportunity to field Azad as Congress candidate at a time when things are not going good for PDP, NC and BJP in Jammu and Kashmir.”Sources saidFor Assembly elections sources said that based on his previous achievement almost all congress leaders from Srinagar to Delhi are on one track to field Hilal Shah against PDP,NC and BJP candidates.After the death of former Chief Minister, Mufti Muhammad Syed, PDP firstly lost one assembly seat from Anantnag constituency and later by selecting Mehbooba as their chief Ministerial candidate it had lose one Lok Sabha seat as well. PDP had won all the three Lok Sabha seats of Kashmir when elections were held last time and defeated top brass leaders of NC and Congress including NC patron Dr Farooq Abdullah from central Kashmir Lok Sabha seat.Election commission of India recently after seekingresponse from Political parties of state regarding elections on vacant Lok Sabha and Assembly seats was approached by PDP with request to defer for six months. Opposition Political parties including NC and congress criticized PDP leadership for seeking deferment and termed the move as its fear of defeat.
