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Cong stakes claim to Chief Ministership, PDP unrelenting
New Govt will be in place before Oct 17: Azad

Excelsior Team

SRINAGAR, Oct. 14: Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad expects the new Government to be in place in Jammu and Kashmir "before October 17". His Man Friday, Mr Taj Mohiuddin, has gone a step ahead by proclaiming here: "We can form the Government on our own and without the support of the People’s Democratic Party".

Significantly, at no stage, as the day of hectic parleys by various political strategists from the Congress(I), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC) progressed, did Mr Azad prevent Mr Taj Mohiuddin from interacting with curious mediapersons.

No sooner did the message go out vis-a-vis the Congress party’s eyes on Chief Minister’s chair with the election of Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) than the fire-brand leader of the PDP, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, ran fast and furious. Her demand that Chief Minister should be from her party found a forceful expression.

That the PDP leadership had toughened its stand on the contentious issue became amply clear when Ms Mehbooba declared: "We will not compromise on our agenda and promises we have made to the people of Kashmir". And her anxious query: "If the Chief Minister is not from our party, who will implement the promises we have made?"

When the Congress leader, Mr Taj Mohiuddin, was asked by mediapersons to comment on the PDP’s demand that the new Chief Minister should be from the Valley, pat came the reply: "Basically, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad is a Kashmiri. It is wrong to say that he is not from Kashmir". Mr Taj Mohiuddin didn’t stop there. He brought to the fore quite loaded expression: "The Congress believes in equal representation to all the three regions of the State".

After Mr Azad was unanimously elected the CLP leader, he motored to Raj Bhavan for a meeting with the Governor, Mr GC Saxena, who had, by then, started exploratory consultations with leaders of the three parties—the Congress (I), the NC and the PDP—on Government formation.Mr Azad, who led his party in the elections, was elected at a meeting of the newly-elected MLAs, each one of them adamant on one thing—that is, the Congress should get Chief Ministership.

Mr Azad’s meeting with Mr Saxena was, expectedly, followed by a volley of questions from the waiting mediapersons. Mr Azad, again, proved himself to be a calculated politician. He did not speak much. All that he did was to clarify that his meeting with the Governor was not in his capacity as the CLP leader but as the chief of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC).

Before the commencement of the separate meetings by the Congress and the PDP, Mr Azad and Mufti Mohammed Sayeed flew in the State’s summer capital (Srinagar) together from New Delhi. But they took different routes from the airport. Mr Azad was also accompanied by three observers, Messrs RK Dhawan, Ahmed Patel and Satish Gaekwad, deputed by the Congress High Command to supervise the election of the CLP leader.

The occasion, in fact, was utilised by the Congress leaders to claim that, minus People’s Democratic Party, they enjoyed the support of a total of 41 MLAs. Yet another significant signal: Three more MLAs would be joining the Congress. In fact, it was claimed that 8 independent MLAs had already joined the Congress. They were identified as Maulvi Abdul Rashid (Banihal), Mr Aijaz Ali Khan (Gool-Arnas), Mr Abdul Majid Wani (Doda), Mr Jatinder alias Babu Singh (Kathua), Haji Nissar Ali (Kargil), Thakur Pooran Singh (Darhal), Mr Ashwani Kumar Sharma (Bishnah) and Dr Manohar Lal Sharma (Billawar).

Mr Azad, a non-MLA whose election as CLP leader is seen as Congress(I)’s candid, categorical message to PDP that it was keen on his heading the Government, made it plain after his meeting with the Governor that his MLAs were keen that the Chief Minister’s post should rest with the party. He was of the opinion: "The question of Chief Ministership should not be seen as a prestige point....Replacement for National Conference should be by a national party like Congress which has 14 States under its belt and is the recognized Opposition in both Houses of Parliament".

Armed with the support of independents and others, the Congress staked its claim late afternoon to form the next Government. The PDP, on the other hand, did not extend its support so far to the Congress. The PDP, however, let it be known that it was hopeful of a breakthrough in the talks over the formation of a coalition Government.

Congress party, Mr Azad asserted, was a national party and, therefore, in a better position to garner support from across the country to address the sensitive issue of Kashmir. Mr Azad couldn’t be faulted for his choice of operations adopted at that particular point of time on the developing relationship with the PDP. Obviously, he had reason as he parried a question whether Congress had turned down PDP’s demand for heading the proposed coalition.

Without referring to the PDP’s election manifesto, Mr Azad insisted that his party, being a national party, was in a better position to rectify the past mistakes. He admitted that Mufti Sayeed had insisted that his party should head the coalition as it would be able to highlight the aspirations of Kashmir people better. Mr Azad had to reiterate that his party was in better position to take care of the issues involved.

As he pointed out that the new Government will be in place before October 17, he stated that while there was lot of time and things will work out, the modalities and other issues were being discussed. "We have not reached a deadlock with PDP. The doors are not closed so far", he said.

Ms Mehbooba Mufti, on the other hand, wanted the Congress to understand that the people’s mandate was against National Conference and people wanted to see a PDP Government in the State. She also wanted the Congress to understand the "fact" that it was people of Kashmir valley who had been suffering for the last 12 years, and, therefore, it was "mandatory" for PDP to lead a coalition Government. Her pronouncement: "We will sacrifice power but not compromise on our principles".

She admitted that there were some differences on a common minimum programme to guide the Congress and PDP coalition. She said that there had been areas of disagreement. "But the options are not closed yet and the final word to this effect has to be delivered by our party president, Mufti Sayeed", he added.

Stating that political parties thinking of providing an alternative to National Conference must rise above partisan lines and support PDP which fought the NC in the Valley, Ms Mehbooba Mufti remarked that the issue of Chief Ministership was "regionalised" by Congress ignoring the fact that it was the people of Kashmir who had been alienated for the last 12 years. She insisted: "It has to be our Chief Minister who will fulfil the agenda of our party and bring respite to the people".

Asked if the continuing deadlock would eventually help the NC, she retorted by saying: "We don’t mind sitting in opposition. But let me make it amply clear that there will be no compromise on the agenda". On the other hand, the Congress leader, Mr Taj Mohiuddin said: "we do not say that there will be no alliance with the PDP, but that has to be on our terms and conditions".

Mr Taj Mohiuddin had an interesting piece of information: Congress has the support of CPM, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Panthers Party and 15 independents. Even BJP will support the Congress. Equally interesting were the inputs from the Congress observer, Mr Gaekwad: "Besides our 20 members we have the support of others which will take our number to over 40, enough to form the Government... We have 40 members and six more are eager to join us".

Responding to another question, Mr Gaekwad said: "I am hopeful of alliance with the PDP... We want them to be with us... The matter will be soon resolved. The talks with the PDP leadership are going on. Mufti Mohammed Sayeed is going to speak with his party leaders before taking any final decision". When asked as to why delay in the formation of alliance, Mr Gaekwad said that it was not the issue of Chief Ministership alone but there were other issues also. "We have so many other things on which we have to come together to run the Government for six years", he said.

By the time Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad concluded his parleys with the Governor, the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party let it be known that it would extend its support to the Congress. The CPM, significantly, also announced its support to the Congress-PDP Government.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami was today elected as the leader of the group formed by the party’s two MLAs and six independents whose support was sought by the Congress in its efforts to form the next Government in Jammu and Kashmir.

Sources said Tarigami was elected as the leader of the group in the Assembly which would play a crucial role in formation of the next Government.

State Congress chief Ghulam Nabi Azad, after meeting Governor G C Saxena, held discussions with the MLAs belonging to the group and handed over a letter seeking their support in the formation of the Government.

The alliance leaders would be meeting tomorrow to finalise their stand on Congress’ request.

Azad was assisted by senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel and R K Dhawan in his discussions with the MLAs.

The six independents are Ghulam Moiuddin Sofi, Hakim Yaseen, Usman Majid, Raman Matoo, Babu Singh and Thakur Puran Singh. Khaleel Naik is the second CPM MLA.

Earlier in the day, NC president. Mr Omar Abdullah, met the Governor and discused Government formation with him. Later, he flew out to Delhi.

Omar quits NDA Govt

NEW DELHI, Oct 14 : In the first fallout of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, National Conference president Omar Abdullah today resigned as Minister of State for External Affairs, citing that he was "needed more" in the State, but said his party would remain in the NDA.

Abdullah, who handed over his resignation to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during a 40-minute meeting here this evening, said in view of the Assembly election results, he needed to be in the State to "strengthen his party".

"There will be no time for me to perform a role in the Union Government," he told reporters as having said to Vajpayee.

Insisting that this was "no symbolism", Abdullah said he was "needed more" in the State in view of the election results in which his party got only 28 seats in the 87-member House against 57 in the previous elections.

Asked about Vajpayee’s response, he said there was no immediate reaction which was natural.

Abdullah had been consistently saying even before polls that he would quit the Vajpayee Government after the elections.

He, however, maintained that NC’s relations with the NDA Government would remain unchanged.

"We are part of the NDA and will remain so. There is no change in that," he said.

On his earlier move to resign some months back, Abdullah said that at that time the "circumstances were different. I had offered to resign because of my responsibility at that time as I could not vote with the Government (in Parliament over the Gujarat issue).

"But this time, I have handed over the resignation with a request that it be accepted."

Abdullah, who also met Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani before resigning, said there would be no retraction on that.

Asked whether somebody from the Party would replace him in the Union Council of Ministers, he said a decision on it would be taken by his party.

"The party will consider that and take a decision," he said, adding it was premature to speak about that now.

Asked whether that option was open, the NC chief said his party had not snapped ties with the NDA Government.

"Had we snapped our ties with NDA, this option would not have remained open," he said.

"What kind of relations we will have will be decided by the Party’s Working Committee," he said. (PTI)