“No,” he stressed. “I don’t think I am the right person at this point. Qureshi, take over. You have a better wave going on in Kashmir right now. After Atharva, the valley is your fan. With the cult craze for Mohsin Sheikh, we will need somebody like Qureshi to turn the tide.”
Qureshi remained silent.
“Zorji?” Atharva turned to their collective elder.
“You said you have a contingency in place. What is it?”
“Iram.”
“Are you serious right now?” Samar hissed.
“Hear me out,” Atharva sat back on his chair, looking so nonchalant. “It is an emotional wave we are expecting. Strategy won’t work. Who will the public stand behind? — A party wrongly accusing me, or my wife who has been slandered from day one and has taken it all gracefully, and still stands strong when I am arrested a day after our wedding?”
“Iram, as Aamir Haider’s daughter, will also sway loyalists from the Awaami camp,” Adil piped up like the crony he was to Atharva.
“First of all,” Samar stated calmly, against every raging instinct. “She can’t even be present in this meeting. Forget founding member, she is not even a member.”
He didn’t even have a reprieve of a second before Atharva got to his feet, pulled his drawer open and walked to her with a bunch of papers — “Can you please sign these?”
She signed. Atharva signed after her. “She is a member of KDP now.”
“I do not endorse this,” Zorji asserted. “This is not democratic for KDP. Only a founding member can be nominated and appointed to President. Any other member must be unanimously elected by the Working Committee.”
Exactly!
“In case of an emergency, the president election need not be held under the Working Committee. The founding members can vote and elect the Interim President,” Atharva countered.
“You cannot run a party on emotion.”
“But elections are fought on emotion. And right now we are in the middle of an election.”
The room was plunged into silence.
“Qureshi,” Atharva called out. “Do you have something to say?”
“No.”
Samar stared at him. Qureshi did not meet his gaze.
“Then I put this to vote. I propose Iram Kaul for the post of Interim President of the Kashmir Development Party. All in favour raise your hands,” Atharva raised his hand, as did Adil. None of the rest of them did. Samar began to feel relief.
Then, he saw a hand rise in his periphery. Qureshi.
“Three out of five, majority garnered. Motion passed,” Atharva announced right as Samar stormed out of there. He could not be a part of this sham. Jammu election was right at their doorstep. His handwork, his repute, his home ground were at stake. He had an election to win, a party to protect, and a foolish Party President’s life to save.
————————————————————
“I have stationed men in and around the police station,” Faris relayed. “Atharva gave the orders last night after I requested.”
“Did you say I asked for it?”
“No. But he knew.”
Samar did not make the mistake of asking how. Atharva was so aware that he could map the next fifteen steps of the man in front of him. He only became blind in front of Iram Haider.
“Plant some men deep inside as well.”
“That is a little difficult. CBI is going to come soon. This place is going to be locked down.”
