A Favourite In Baramulla?
According to the grapevine, the ruling establishment tried to make it ‘as easy as it could’ for Safeena Beigh, the wife of former deputy chief minister Muzaffar Beigh, to become chairperson.
It seems like a long shot, however, for she contested as an independent, and all the other independents would have to be convinced to back her. Beigh may get the support of the Apni Party, though.
Shoaib Lone, who contested against her on an Apni Party ticket, seems convinced that his loss was facilitated. Nevertheless, he seems to have accepted it with good grace as the party line.
His mother is the widow of a former education minister of the state, who was killed by militants. That assassination served as Shoaib’s shock launch into politics.
The Tale Of A ‘Misspelled’ Name
The administration has gone into strange convolutions about which districts to reserve for women. One-third of the chairpersons are to be women, in accordance with the Central zilla parishad…