Since the Constitution of new government in Jammu and Kashmir, the factionalism among the Congress leaders was witnessed on number of occasions.

A recent example of factionalism was witnessed two days ago (November 13), on the visit of Union minister of state for defence Dr MM Pallam Raju. Raju was in Jammu to inaugurate a vital 92.5 mt span bridge on Akhnoor-Chhamb border road in bordering Chhamb Constituency. Though the inauguration function was organised by Soz loyalists in the Assembly constituency represented by the deputy chief minister, yet Tara Chand, who is close to Ghulam Nabi Azad, ignored the inauguration function chaired by minister of state for defence and organised a parallel function in his constituency just few kilometers away at the same time.

This is not the first occasion when the deputy chief minister promoted factionalism in the Jammu. On October 31, a function was organised by Congress in Abhinav Theatre to pay tribute to the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi where Prof Saif Ud Din Soz was the chief guest. However, deputy chief minister, being Azad loyalist, organised separate function in his constituency where he inaugurated a road on the name of India Gandhi.

A similar scene was witnessed on October 2, when Congress Pradesh president Prof Soz organised a big event to celebrate the birth anniversary of the father of nation Mahatma Gandhi where minister in Prime Minister’s Office Prithvi Raj Chavan was chief guest but the deputy chief minister and some other Azad loyalists didn’t attended the function. However, deputy chief minister attended another parallel function in Jammu.

These events clearly speak about the volume how the deputy chief minister has been promoting factionalism in the trouble-torn state of Jammu and Kashmir.

It is pertinent to mention that member parliament Madan Lal Sharma and deputy chief minister Tara Chand, despite belonging to the same assembly constituency, have old differences between them. Sharma is the person who brought Tara Chand, a scheduled caste, into politics and perused the Congress high command for giving ticket to him (Tara Chand) when the Chhamb constituency was reserved for scheduled castes in 1996. Before that Madan was MLA of the same constituency. However, later the differences erupted between the duo nearly three years ago when Tara Chand was speaker of J&K assembly. During parliamentary elections early this year, Tara Chand made unsuccessful attempts to ensure the defeat of Madan Lal Sharma.