Is there a Cong CM to take charge?

They talk of Indo-Pak friendship but when it comes to politics, they are a divided house. In November 2002, when Congress and People’s ...

They talk of Indo-Pak friendship but when it comes to politics, they are a divided house. In November 2002, when Congress and People’s Democratic Party joined hands to form a coalition government in strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir, both decided to have their leaders as chief ministers by rotation for three years each (The J-K Assembly has a six-year term). Now, when the PDP has only a year left before its quota ends, the debate has begun over who will be the next chief minister of the state from Congress. In 2002, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had said the party was handing

over chief ministership to a Kashmiri leader in view of the verdict of the people of the Valley. And, now when it’s time for the Congress to take up the job, the problem is that it’s chief ministerial candidates — Ghulam Nabi Azad (now Union Minister) and Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma — belong to the Jammu region. It could be advantage PDP — Mufti might be asked to continue.

Turning to stock trade

Just a year after stock trading caught on in the Valley, investors are looking at commodity trading. In the past few months, broking houses in Kashmir say investing in commodities has gained currency among investors as volumes have touches Rs 5 crore a day. Trading, though, is limited to gold and silver. The brokers say high returns on gold and silver have sparked interest in commodity trading. Aar Bee Securities, which claims to have 80 per cent market share, says it’s trying to lure investors to commodities like gaur seed, which fetched over 50 per cent returns elsewhere, by setting up research wings.

‘Crossover’ scribes

For once, scribes were themselves the big story. Even as the 16-member team of Pakistani journalists, on their first visit to J-K since 1947, maintained they were not here to create history but to write about it, the story was already in the making. There were celebrations, there was a wait, there was resentment.

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A few steps across Wagah drew a tumult of reactions in the state. Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed called it ‘‘a step towards peace’’, a women’s group in the Valley called it ‘‘a bonhomie fraud’’ while the media here struck a different note — ‘‘Welcome to the other side of the picture’’. The top Pakistani journalists did more of listening, less talking — besides the fact that there were no communication facilities, including STD, fax from Jammu to Pakistan, hence their stories were all stalled. So much for being the story.

Cell war takes over

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited cellular services turned one this month. But the birthday was marred by an uninvited guest — Airtel that launched its services here last week. BSNL has issued one lakh more connections by the year-end. The private operators responded by issuing SIM cards even before the services were available. Finally, it’s raining choices for the J-K user.