Srinagar, Nov 27: Farooq Abdullah (86) is the senior most politician in Jammu and Kashmir at present.
He has been the Chief Minister of the state thrice. Known for his flamboyant exterior, Farooq Abdullah is a politician the like of whom J&K has not seen in the past.
Behind the merry-making, easy-going image is a shrewd politician who knows when it is time to shift from one end of the field to the other.
Even his worst political adversaries respect him for his capacity to make friends and disarm enemies.
Farooq Abdullah is often blamed for being unpredictable and that perhaps is his best political asset.
His unpredictable nature goes well with his style of functioning. During his first tenure as the Chief Minister, he was seen riding a motorcycle with a famous Bollywood actress on the pillion. He stopped while on way to his office to help an old cart-puller negotiate the load he was pulling.
One of his remarkable characteristics is that however loud he might shout at anyone, he does not harbour a grudge for long. He is not vengeful and he is easily moved to tears if he sees misery and pain.
Farooq Abdullah is often blamed for his proverbial restlessness, and those who have been associated with him will tell you that this has often adversely affected his functioning as the Chief Minister.
Golf, singing, wearing good clothes and to be in the company of beautiful women have almost been a compulsion for him. He would fly to places outside J&K to play golf, watch concerts, cricket matches and attend high profile parties even when he should have been discharging his official duties in J&K.
During his last tenure as the Chief Minister, he virtually handed over governance to his two most trusted bureaucrats, Chief Secretary Ashok Jaitly and his Principal Secretary B.R. Singh.
Whenever he came under party pressure to do something that he thought was beyond his capacity, he would refer the matters to ‘Tony’, as Ashok Jaitly was fondly called by his friends and family. (IANS)
