Cong loses ground but not importance

NEW DELHI: More than two decades after they came together in a pre-poll alliance that eventually plunged Jammu & Kashmir into chaos, the Congress and the National Conference appear set to form a coalition government. Having won 28 and 17 seats, respectively, the NC and the Congress are in pole position to form the government.

Congress political managers are more than pleased with the results, which have given the party the role of kingmaker, though it ceded ground to the BJP in Jammu and won two seats less than in 2002. After the Amarnath shrine land row earlier this year, few gave the party a chance. But Congress leaders maintained that nobody would be in a position to form a government in the state without their support, and they have been proved right.

The Congress was the PDP’s partner in the coalition that ruled the state from 2002. But the manner in which the PDP pulled the rug from under Ghulam Nabi Azad’s feet as well as the party’s tendency to play the ‘soft secessionist’ card has made the Congress wary of it.

The PDP still has its backers in the Congress. But the numbers — a Congress-PDP coalition will need the support of some independents, too — and the fact that the Congress is afraid of the adverse impact a power-sharing arrangement with the party may have in the rest of the country in the general election due in April-May 2009 make the alliance unlikely.

The core group of the Congress met on Sunday evening to weigh its options, but there were enough indications ahead of the meeting that the party favours a tie-up with the NC. Rahul Gandhi and Omar Abdullah, scions of the two parties’ dynasties, have an excellent rapport. Besides, Azad and Prithviraj Chavan, Congress general secretary in charge of Jammu & Kashmir, favour the NC.