Dr. Farooq Abdullah

Dr. Farooq Abdullah (born October 21 1936, Soura, Kashmir), the son of Sheikh Abdullah, is a doctor of medicine and has served as chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on several occasions.However he never practiced medicine because as a student it needed intervention from Jawahlal Nehru to transfer the college Principal to have him passed in his MBBS exams.

Politically he has had a controversial innings and is known to be a crowd puller with his witty one liners.Farooq Abdullah outwardly has been for autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir within the constitution of India and formalizing the Line of Control (LoC) as the international border.However he has been known to contradict himself with differing statements in Kashmir and Delhi.

As chief Minister he created the infamous task force of the J&K police which functioned as his private militia and committed gross human rights voilations and was held responsible by human rights groups for thousands of extra judicial killings. He also patronized known warlords like Papa Kishtawari, Kuka Parray and Nab Azad whom he used to settle scores with his political opponents and force people to attend his public meetings.

He is the only married among three brothers and the other two are suspected to be gay.His wife is of British origin and stays in England and has been estranged from him since last 10 years. She has not been keeping good health off late but has refused to join him in India. He is an avid golfer who during his earlier reign used to restrict the use of the famous royal springs golf course to himself and a few selected personal friends most of whom are now the prime accused in the Kashmir sex scandal. The golf course was created after felling thousands of prime trees in a forest reserve.

He has suffered politically due the Kashmir sex scandal which involved politicians,businessmen and top civil and police officers. Most of involved are known to be very close to him and he is been accused of creating a generation of debauch officers who exploited poor underage girls. He sexual escapades are very well known in Kashmir and he has always boasted of his rendezvous with famous actresses. However the sex scandal has exposed his darker side as it involved girls as young as 15.

Last year he shifted from his son's residence due to difference with his daughter in law who wanted more space for her dogs.

He is a self proclaimed secularist with his son and daughters married to non-muslims which to some however appeared to be an attempt to convince the then BJP government to nominate him for the Presidents post.

He is a known multimillionaire though his father was a humble school teacher when he started his political career.

Abdullah was a novice in the political arena of Jammu and Kashmir when he was appointed president of National Conference in Srinagar on August 21, 1981. His prime qualification was that he was the son and heir of the nationalist Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah. In 1984 DR Farooq Abdullah was dismissed and replaced with a pro-Congress government under GM Shah.He was dismissed because Indira Gandhi got angry with him when his supporters danced naked to humiliate her during an election rally.Controversially he forged an intricate alliance with the Congress and returned as interim chief minister in 1987. Though charges of corruption and cronyism were rampant against him, he returned to power in 1987 in elections which were rigged.

He still remains semi active in politics after handing over the reins of his party to his son and has stated on a number of occasions that his ultimate goal is to be the president of India. He has recently shown interest in becoming the Chief Minister of the state again.