Karra only permanent invitee to CWCfrom Kashmir

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 18

Senior politician Tariq Hamid Karra, who resigned as a PDP Lok Sabha member in September 2016 and joined the Congress, is the only permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) from Jammu and Kashmir.

This also indicates that he is going to get a bigger role in the party ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. After Congress’ dismal performance in last two Assembly and parliamentary elections, the party has been exploring options to make changes in the leadership for consolidating its voter base in the state.

The CWC — the party’s apex decision-making body — has 23 core members, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, 18 permanent invitees, and 10 special invitees.

Sources said the development indicated that party affairs in J&K were likely to be handed over to Karra.

Karra thanked Congress patron Sonia Gandhi and party president Rahul Gandhi for reposing trust in him. “The party leadership has again reposed faith in me and I’ll try my best to come up to their expectations,” Karra told The Tribune.

Karra said after the constitution of Manmohan Singh-led policy planning group of the Congress on J&K last year, his representation in the CWC proves that the state, particularly Kashmir, is always a priority for the party.

The 62-year-old Karra resigned from the ruling PDPand also from the Lok Sabha after the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in July 2016. Karra — a one-time close confidant of former CM Mehbooba Mufti — had defeated National Conference president Farooq Abdullah in the 2014 Lok Sabhaelections by a margin of 40,000 votes.

He resigned in protest against the civilian killings during the 2016 unrest and accused the Mehbooba-led PDP of “becoming a collaborator for the fascist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-governed BJP”.

To get a bigger role?  

Tariq Hamid Karra’s naming as a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee indicates that he is going to get a bigger role in the party ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. After Congress’ dismal performance in last two Assembly and parliamentary elections, the party has been exploring options to make changes in the leadership for consolidating its voter base in the state.