J

Srinagar, Jun 5 (UNI) The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a key ruling coalition partner in Jammu and Kashmir, has suffered a major setback after Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha turned the nomination of its candidate to the Upper House in the state Legislature, well-placed sources said today.

They said the Governor has raised serious objections on certain grounds to the nomination of Rafi Ahmad Mir by the PDP to the Legislative Council on a seat, which has been earmarked for a person with academic excellence.

The sources said Gen Sinha had questioned the PDP nominee's eligibility, saying he was neither an academician nor a social worker and even does not have an intellectual background, which was a pre-requisite for filling up the particular seat.

The seat fell vacant with the retirement of National Conference (NC) leader and eminent litterateur Mohammad Yousuf Taing last year.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had last week recommended Mr Mir's candidature for nomination to the upper house on the request of the PDP leadership.

The sources said the Governor has asked the state government to justify Mr Mir's qualification for the seat.

Mr Mir has functioned as an NC legislator from Pahalgam in 1987-90 period. He had recently joined the PDP after his 20-year-long association with the NC. He had twice contested polls from Bijbehara but was defeated both the times by PDP candidates.

In February this year, elections were held to eight seats of the Legislative Council in which the Congress bagged four, while the PDP and the NC won two seats each.

Being a major ruling coalition partner, the PDP had staked its claim on three (two elected and one nominated) out of the nine vacant seats in the Legislative Council.

Political observers here said the Governor's refusal to accept the nomination of the PDP candidate has created a piquant situation.

The move would further deepen the strained relations between the Governor and the PDP leadership, they added.

''Differences between Gen Sinha and the PDP leadership over several issues such as duration of the Amarnath pilgrimage and troop reduction in Jammu and Kashmir are well known,'' the observers said.

A similar situation had emerged in 1985 when the then Governor, Jagmohan, turned down the recommendation of the then Chief Minister, Ghulam Mohammad Shah, for nomination of Ghulam Nabi Kochak to the Upper House against the nominated vacancy.

However, after turning down the first recommendation, Mr Jagmohan had to eventually give in and thus nominated Kochak to the state Legislative Council. Kochak then became the Revenue Minister in the G M Shah government.

UNI