Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 10: From junior partner relegated to the level of virtual non-entity, the Congress has been given a day’s time to decide whether it wanted to remain in alliance with the National Conference whose leader Omar Abdullah is the chief minister designate of Jammu and Kashmir.
Omar Abdullah was on Thursday elected the leader of the National Conference legislature party which after receiving support from four of the seven independents elected has already touched the majority mark in the 90-member state Assembly minus the six seats won by the Congress. But the Congress support will be key in the event of the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, the central BJP government’s representative in the Union Territory, nominate five BJP sympathisers in the House which will take the strength of the Assembly to 95 and the majority mark to 48.
“A meeting of the legislature party was held where everyone unanimously chose Omar Abdullah as its leader,” the party president Farooq Abdullah said. He said a meeting of the pre-poll alliance partners would be held on Friday to take the process of government formation further.
Mr Omar Abdullah thanked the National Conference legislators on Thursday for electing him their leader. “You are aware of the decision that was taken. A meeting of the NC legislature party took place, the legislature party has decided its leader and I am thankful from the bottom of my heart to the NC legislators that they have reposed their faith in me and given me a chance to stake claim for government formation,” Mr Omar Abdullah told reporters after he was elected the leader of the legislature party here.
Earlier, all the newly elected MLAs of the National Conference (NC) met at party headquarters Nawa-i-Subah to elect their leader, who will be the chief minister as well, in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly. The meeting was convened by party president and Mr Omar’s father Farooq Abdullah.
He said four of the seven Independent MLAs have extended support to the NC, taking the party’s strength to 46. “Talks are on with the Congress. They have been given a day to decide. Once they give us a letter of support, I will stake claim for government formation,” Mr Omar Abdullah said.
The NC has emerged as the single-largest party in the just-concluded Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls with 42 seats. The party has a comfortable majority in the 95-member Assembly as its alliance partners Congress and CPI(M) have won six seats and one seat respectively.
Pyare Lal Sharma, Satish Sharma, Choudhary Mohammed Akram, and Dr Rameshwar Singh – who won the Inderwal, Chhamb, Surankote, and Bani seats – have backed the NC. Assuming that the pre-poll alliance partners, the Congress and the CPM. Which have won six and one seat respectively, remain with the group, it would enjoy a comfortable majority in the House and the LG nominated members will have no role to play.
But, for now, the Congress is not a factor Omar Abdullah absolutely has to consider. The NC had finished Tuesday’s counting of votes with 42 seats, the BJP which ruled supreme in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region, scored 29 and its count has since gone up to 32 after support from the other three independents.
The People’s Democratic Party of ex-Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti collapsed, dropping all but three seats from its 2014 tally of 28 and, with it, any hope of playing ‘kingmaker.’