National Conference MP from Srinagar, Agha Syed Ruhullah has resigned from the party. He was angry with the party for a long time.
According to news agency PTI, Agha Syed Ruhullah has indicated that he may form his own new political party.
He said, "I cannot compromise my respect for power." Ruhullah had already announced that he would resign from the party on November 3.
With his resignation, a big challenge has arisen before Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Omar Abdullah's government has completed two years of its current tenure only last month.
On October 27, four MLAs from Kashmir were included in his cabinet. These include Ali Mohammad Sagar, Mir Saifullah, Shamima Firdous and Altaf Ahmed Wani.
After this, Omar Abdullah had to face criticism from some leaders of his own party National Conference. It is not common for such open anger to be expressed within the party.
Three days later, on October 30, 17 angry MLAs of the party held a meeting in Srinagar for four hours.
After the meeting, he gave 15 days time to the party to resolve its grievances. These MLAs are angry with the party taking "unilateral decisions" and "running the party according to a select few".
The MLAs expressed unhappiness over the way the party was working.
Mubarak Gul, six-time MLA from Srinagar's Eidgah seat, and Abdul Majeed Larni, MLA from Anantnag West, openly expressed their displeasure over not getting a place in Omar Abdullah's cabinet.
In the new cabinet, seven ministers including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah are from Kashmir Valley.
Two ministers have been made from Jammu region. Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Chaudhary is also included in these.
The party has described the public expression of displeasure by its MLAs as a sign of its "internal democracy".
Is there any threat to Omar government?
Rekha Chaudhary, former professor of the Political Science Department of Jammu University, says that there is no threat to Omar Abdullah's government at present.
According to him, there is little possibility that the angry MLAs will resign from the party.
She says, "It is very rare in the history of the National Conference that its leaders have publicly expressed anger against the party."
"All political parties have their own ways of addressing such grievances. I don't know how big this crisis is, but the National Conference has never faced such a situation before."
Meanwhile, the crisis in the party has deepened with the resignation of senior party leader and Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar Syed Aga Ruhullah on Tuesday.
Ruhullah's father Syed Agha Mehdi Mustafa was murdered by extremists on 3 November 2000. At that time he was a Congress leader.
Now after 26 years, Ruhullah has chosen the same date to separate from the National Conference.
What did Ruhullah accuse Omar Abdullah of?
Srinagar MP Ruhullah has accused Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of betraying the mandate received in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections of 2024.
National Conference had won 42 seats in this election. Most of these seats were in Kashmir.
Bharatiya Janata Party stood second by winning 29 seats. All the seats of BJP were from Jammu region.
In its election manifesto, the National Conference had promised to fight to restore Article 370 and the special constitutional rights given to Jammu and Kashmir.
The party had also promised to hand over power projects to Jammu and Kashmir, provide 200 units of free electricity to every household and provide employment to one lakh youth of Jammu and Kashmir.
But most of these promises have not been fulfilled yet.
Omar Abdullah, while clarifying on the alleged poor performance of his government, has said that as the Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, he has limited powers.
On condition of anonymity, a National Conference MLA said, "Now the situation has become such that our own voters make fun of us."
“If we are not able to do anything on a basic issue like free electricity, then how will we fulfill big promises?”
Professor Noor Ahmed Baba, former dean of the Department of Social Sciences at the Central University of Kashmir, says that the National Conference took advantage of the people's anger against the BJP in Kashmir and came to power.
Regional parties of Kashmir, including Mehbooba Mufti's People's Democratic Party or PDP, had opposed the BJP-led central government's decision to remove most of the provisions of Article 370 and reduce the status of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Supreme Court had upheld these decisions.
Professor Baba says, "After only two years of coming to power, the National Conference has reached such a situation where one leader, Ruhullah, is effectively taking up the promises made in the manifesto of the last assembly elections and the party leadership is keeping distance from the same leader."
Even Omar Abdullah and National Conference president and his father Farooq Abdullah have rejected the suggestion to persuade Ruhullah to change his decision.
Farooq Abdullah has gone even further and challenged Ruhullah to contest the elections on his own.
Is there a circle of some people around the Chief Minister?
Another Jammu and Kashmir MLA, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC that there is a "circle of friends and leaders" around the chief minister. Because of this, senior party leaders are being sidelined.
Without naming anyone, he said, "Most of these people have not even won the elections. Despite this, their views are heard in party matters."
"At the same time, people who have worked for the party for years are being ignored."
Professor Baba believes that the party leadership could have handled Ruhullah's case in a better way.
He says, "The way Ruhullah was treated made the party appear arrogant and careless."
"Now the new resentment within the party shows that many leaders are not happy with the way it is working. This shows a complete failure of leadership."
According to Professor Baba, the ongoing tussle within the National Conference may lead to further disunity among the regional parties of Kashmir.
He believes, "BJP is likely to benefit from this."
Professor Rekha Chaudhary says, "Not only BJP, PDP will also benefit from this situation."
He says that some old leaders of the party are also included among the angry MLAs. These include Mubarak Gul and senior leader and MLA Nazir Gurezi.
According to Professor Chaudhary, due to the open anger of these leaders, both the National Conference and Omar Abdullah's government appear to be in a weak position.
Other leaders including Mubarak Gul and Nazir Gurezi have announced to hold a press conference on 4th November.
Professor Chaudhary says that the National Conference leadership is probably trying to wait and understand the situation before Ruhullah's resignation.
Is there a danger of the party breaking up?
"In politics, circumstances keep changing and people take decisions keeping different things in mind."
"Are there credible alternatives available to the people of Jammu and Kashmir? We will have to wait for this."
