Hung House in J&K again, NC hopes to form govt

The Congress and National Conference (NC) together won 45 seats and an alliance now seems increasingly on the cards. The Congress too seems more than open to the idea with senior Congress leader Karan Singh saying the parties are "ideologically compatible".

A resurgent National Conference on Sunday emerged the single-largest party in a hung Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir and is all poised to stake claim for forming the next government with Congress support.

Speaking exclusively to NDTV, Omar Abdullah said that the "poll verdict is less than what we expected". "In an ideal situation NC and Congress should form the government," he said, adding "We are in touch with the Congress informally."

NC, which has got 28 seats, exactly the same number it won in the 2002 elections, said it will approach "like minded" Congress, which bagged 17 seats, for forming the next government after the five-week seven-phased polls that recorded a high 61 per cent turn-out defying separatists' boycott calls and militant guns.

An NC-Congress combine can cross the magic half-way mark of 44 in a House of 87 but there are six independents besides the three-member Panthers Party from whom it could also count on for support.

The Congress too seems open to the idea with senior Congress leader Karan Singh saying the parties are "ideologically compatible". NC had 25 seats in the dissolved assembly. Congress lost three seats.

Back-channel talks have already begun between the two parties, sources said, adding Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who is said to have good equations with Omar, is expected to play a key role in forging a partnership.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which shared power with Congress on a rotational basis for last six years, came second with a tally of 21 seats, a gain of five over the 2002 elections.

Cashing in on the Amarnath land row, the BJP put up an impressive performance clinching 11 of the 37 seats at stake in Jammu region. The saffron party had only one seat in the last Assembly. The CPI-M could only win one of the two seats it had.

Thirty-eight-year-old Omar Abdullah, the scion of the Abdullah family, who steered NC for a shot at power, said his party would approach the Congress for forming the next government.

"Clearly, Congress is the most like-minded party to NC and we will approach them the moment we emerge the single largest party," said Omar, who made his debut to the state assembly winning the Ganderbal seat, which he had lost in 2002.

Congress gave the first signs of a possible support to a NC government when Union Minister Prithviraj Chauhan, who was the Congress observer in Jammu, said the party was only interested in giving the "most stable government" even if it meant staying outside power.

Former Chief Minister and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad is believed to be keen on a tie-up with NC apparently because of bitter experience with PDP which pulled out of the coalition government forcing him to resign.

Omar's father and NC patron Farooq Abdullah virtually paved the way for his son to assume the top post when he shot back, "why not" when asked if the young leader could become the Chief Minister. Farooq, who won from both Hazratbal and Sonawar constituencies, said he would rather prefer to sit in Parliament and dismissed reports of differences with his son. Farooq is a member of Rajya Sabha.

Omar had also told reporters that Farooq was also projected as the chief ministerial candidate but the former Chief Minister had expressed reservations about heading a coalition government.

Party positions across state

Out of 46 seats at stake in Kashmir valley, NC got 20, a gain of two seats, while PDP bagged 19, an addition of three. Congress lost two seats to have a tally of three.

In the Jammu region which has 37 seats in all, the BJP got 11 as against one it had while the Congress lost two to notch a score of 13. NC got six seats losing three while PDP opened its account bagging two seats.

In Ladakh, where four seats were up for grabs, NC got two, one more than it got in 2002 and Congress gained one.

The NC made a clean sweep of the eight constituencies in Srinagar. Considered to be stronghold of separatists, the city recorded 20 per cent polling in the final phase of elections held on December 24. In 2002 elections, NC had bagged five city seats while two went to Independents and another was won by the Congress.

The PDP suffered a shock defeat in Batmaloo constituency where its former minister and general secretary Tariq Hameed Karra lost to Irfan Shah of NC by a margin of 2,500 votes.

PDP made a clean sweep of Pulwama and Shopian districts winning all the six seats (four in Pulwama and two in Shopian) and also did well in Anantnag and Kulgam districts winning six of the ten seats.

The most important victory of PDP came from Anantnag from where party patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was elected for the first time. Sayeed, who entered the state assembly through bypoll held in 2004 from Pahalgam constituency, vacated by his daughter Mehbooba Mufti after her election to Lok Sabha, shifted to Anantnag this time and defeated NC provincial president Mehboob Beg.

PDP President Mehbooba Mufti won from Wachi and her father and party patron Mufti Sayeed bagged the Anantnag seat.

State Secretary of CPI(M) M Y Tarigami managed to retain Kulgam after a tough fight with the PDP nominee.