SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI, 16 October — The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said it would support the Congress party in forming a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir only if it was allowed to head the combine.

PDP President Mufti Muhammad Sayeed ruled out the possibility of his party supporting the coalition if the Congress went ahead with plans to install Ghulam Nabi Azad as chief minister.

“There has to be a PDP chief minister or else you can forget all talk about any Congress-PDP alliance in the state,” Sayeed told reporters here. “The ball is in their (Congress’) court.”

The National Conference was thrown out of office in state elections that produced a hung assembly. A Congress-PDP bid to form a government has run into rough weather due to differences on choosing a chief minister. The Congress projected Azad, a leader from Hindu-majority Jammu region, as its chief ministerial candidate. Jammu and Kashmir’s Panthers Party has offered to back the Congress.

Party chief Bhim Singh said in Delhi, “Our party at Monday’s meeting made it clear that if the Congress is invited to form a government and if its chief ministerial candidate is from Jammu, we will support them.”

However, the PDP said the chief minister should be from Kashmir Valley, where it has fared better than the Congress in the polls and where lies the heart of the secessionist campaign.

“It is the problem of Kashmir that has to be addressed and not that of Jammu,” Sayeed said.

“We are a regional party and we have regional concerns while the Congress has a more centrist agenda. If we are (to get) together we should have a common minimum program and not try and indulge in horse-trading and manipulation against each other.” Unless a government is formed by Oct. 17, New Delhi may be forced to impose governor’s rule in the state under constitutional provisions. Sayeed sounded bitter while talking about the Congress’ efforts to get support from independent candidates and smaller parties for a government headed by Azad.

He said the elections had thrown up a “great opening” to deal with the 50-year-old Kashmir problem and circumstances demanded that the Congress rise above “partisan interests”.

“I spoke to (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi and senior Congress leaders Ambika Soni and Manmohan Singh during my visit to New Delhi. I expressed myself clearly to them.

“I told them the PDP had emerged as an alternative to the National Conference and that alternative should not be squandered away by making the Congress take the lead.”

Sayeed made it clear the PDP was not interested in coming to power at the cost of compromising on its election manifesto. The party had vowed in its poll campaign to repeal implementation of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, a tough anti-terror law, and disband the Special Operations Group, a counter-insurgency force accused of human rights violations.

“We are prepared to stay out of power if that is what time demands,” said Sayeed. It is unlikely that the Congress, which has 20 seats in the 87-member assembly, can form a government without the support of the PDP’s 16 legislators.

The numbers game in the assembly is against the Congress unless it can rope in the National Conference, the single largest party with 28 seats. This, however, is a remote possibility given the enmity between them.

All eyes are now set on what Governor G.C. Saxena decides to do. People are also watching how the Congress meets the challenge posed by the PDP. Analysts now believe a Congress-PDP government could be formed only if the Congress gives up its claims on the chief minister’s post. They say the Congress must decide on this issue quickly if it wants to add Jammu and Kashmir to its tally of states where it is in power.

The PDP however said it was hopeful of reaching an understanding with the Congress on forming a government in Kashmir to avoid the imposition of central rule in the state.

“I think the new government should be in place before Oct. 17,” Mehbooba Mufti, the PDP vice president, said.

With Congress and PDP unable to form a coalition, NC leaders said they would seek to “provide an alternate arrangement” by forming a government with independent members.

“We have left the field open for the PDP and Congress,” senior NC leader Ali Muhammad Sagar told Star Television. “But if the two parties fail to reach a consensus then other options are open.”