Cong open to tie-up with NC

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New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday looked inclined to forming an NC-led coalition Government in Jammu & Kashmir, even as a section of the party favoured an alliance with the “time-tested” PDP. Top leadership of the NC and the Congress were understood to have got in touch late on Monday evening.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will, however, take a decision on the coalition partner after consultations with the local leadership. She has called former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and PCC chief Saifuddin Soz to Delhi on Monday.

At the Congress Core Group meeting at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence on Sunday, senior leaders were learnt to be apprehensive of the stability of a Congress-PDP coalition given the fact that the two together have only 38 seats — six short of a simple majority in the House. Including two Congress-supported Independents, the tally would go up to 40.

A section of the Congress, including Soz, is in favour of an alliance with the PDP. They argued in favour of a Congress-PDP alliance as the PDP, as a mainstream political party, was able to push separatist elements to the fringes. The PDP has also increased its tally in the Valley in this election. A section of the Government also shared this opinion. Sources said the PDP was also willing to give the chief ministership to the Congress to keep the NC out of power.

The Congress Core Group was, however, said to be in favour of providing a “stable” Government. The Congress and the NC together cross the majority figure without any support from Independents.

Given the PDP’s stance on the Amarnath land issue, the Congress was also looking at the implications of an alliance with the PDP at the national level.

There were, however, many issues related to power-sharing arrangement involved in a possible Congress-NC coalition. The Congress would like to have a “PDP-like” coalition model that provided for a rotating chief ministership after three years. There was another issue about the chief ministerial candidate of the NC, which has projected Farooq Abdullah whose relationship with the Nehru-Gandhi family, including former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, were marked by many ups and downs. His son Omar Abdullah, on the other hand, enjoys a good rapport with many Congress leaders, especially AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi.