Tariq Abdullah finds himself saddled with negative reputation of a despot

His office, a green hut sitting stiffly amid the rolling lawns of the Tourist Reception Centre at Srinagar, is out of bounds for most of his staff as he finds them "'undesirable elements". He sits mostly alone in his stately chamber where the bric-a-brac on the walls - chosen with care - rot way behind thick curtains of cobwebs. The three telephones are all dead at once as he refuses to pay "excessive bills'".

Tariq Abdullah, 43, the less known younger son of Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, the iron-like chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, may well earn the parsimony award for the way in which he has conducted the affairs of the State Tourism Development Corporation ever since he took over as its managing director in 1975.

Tariq's appointment, curiously, coincided with that of his father as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. It is no wonder, therefore, that when the Sheikh dissolved his cabinet early in 1977 and called for fresh elections, Tariq too relinquished his office. And the son rose again with the father in the summer of 1977 as the latter rode back to power with a thumping majority.