Srinagar/NEW DELHI, 15 October — The Congress party is apparently hoping to engineer defections from the People’s Democratic party (PDP) by pressing ahead with its efforts to form a government in the hung assembly thrown up by the Jammu and Kashmir elections.

The 20 newly elected Congress legislators yesterday unanimously chose Ghulam Nabi Azad as their chief ministerial candidate, a move that could possibly trigger a fight to the finish with the party’s rivals. Ironically, the PDP that appeared set to form a coalition government with the Congress, now seems to be on the losing side.

The PDP, headed by former Home Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, won 16 seats in the 87-member assembly in the elections.

Voters threw the ruling National Conference out of office but the party emerged the single largest group in the assembly with 28 seats.

Congress General Secretary Taj Mohiuddin hinted at possible defections from the PDP when he told reporters yesterday that his party had the right numbers to form a government. The PDP is not recognized as a separate political party in Kashmir by the Election Commission and horse-trading by its legislators would not attract provisions of the state’s anti-defection law.

Legislators defecting from a party would ordinarily lose their seats in the assembly under the law. After the meeting of its executive committee here yesterday, a PDP spokesman said the Congress would have to accept all conditions set forth by the party if it intended to form a coalition government with the PDP’s support.

With the apparently intractable differences that emerged after the Congress said there could be no compromise over Azad’s choice as chief minister, the possibility of an alignment between the Congress and the PDP appears to be diminishing.

But senior Congress leaders are not saying how the party plans to get the support of 44 legislators, a simple majority in the assembly, to form a government. “Political expediency takes precedence over everything else. Just give us a little more time,” Mohiuddin said in Srinagar after Azad called on the Governor G.C. Saxena for discussions.

With rumors doing the rounds here that horse-trading and offers of a ministerial berth are being used to engineer defections from smaller political parties and the PDP, Kashmir’s politicians appear to be behaving like their counterparts in other states.

Meanwhile, caretaker Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah yesterday boosted his chances of forming a government despite losing state elections, after an independent candidate joined his party and another indicated his willingness to do so. Shah Jahan Dar, the independent candidate elected from Zadibal constituency in Srinagar, yesterday said he was joining the National Conference.

Farooq visited Dar at his house in downtown Zadibal along with other National Conference leaders following the announcement.

Sources in the party said another independent candidate, Abdul Rashid, who was elected from Banihal constituency in Jammu, too had expressed his willingness to join the party.

The National Conference has started a vigorous exercise to woo independent candidates and smaller political parties to bolster its claim to forming a government.

Its poor performance in the elections was attributed largely to the electorate’s anger against the party for its failure to take up developmental programs and control violence by separatist guerrillas. “We have sought pardon from the people for our so-called non-performance,” Farooq told reporters here. “People are joining us and as things unfold we shall inform you.” Commenting on National Conference President Omar Abdullah’s meeting with Governor G.C. Saxena yesterday, Farooq said: “Omar is the party president and the governor invited him for talks in his capacity as the head of the largest single party in the state assembly.”

Omar, who was Minister of State for External Affairs in the center, said yesterday he had resigned his ministerial job.

Omar tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee after 40-minute closed-door talks with him in New Delhi.

But in a major development that could hamper the National Conference’s efforts to form a government, the Panthers Party that has four legislators in the assembly said it would support the Congress in forming the government.