SRINAGAR: The Congress-led 31-month-old coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir fell yesterday, as Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad submitted his resignation to the state governor, N.N. Vohra, who accepted it immediately.

The governor, however, asked Azad to continue till an alternative arrangement was made. Azad announced his decision to resign on the floor of the house at the end of his one-and-a-half-hour-long speech on the confidence motion, he moved yesterday morning in the house.

According to informed sources, the governor has also asked leader of opposition Abdur Rahim Rathor if his party, the National Conference, would stake the claim to form the government. However, the National Conference has already made it clear that it was not interested in forming the new government.

“We have already made it clear that we do not want to stake any claim to government formation,” National Conference President Omar Abdullah told IANS after Azad announced his decision to quit office.

Azad, however, withdrew the confidence motion, which was to be put to vote to prove his support in the house. The one-day session of the state assembly had been convened on the instance of Vohra who had asked Azad to prove his majority in the house, following withdrawal of support by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the key coalition partner on June 28.

The PDP withdrew from the government in the wake of massive protests in the Valley against the allotment of forestland to Sri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) which was subsequently canceled by the state Cabinet to defuse the situation.

Muslim Kashmiris denounced the land transfer as an attempt to build Hindu settlements in the area and alter the demographics in India’s only Muslim-majority state. Faced with some of the largest protests against Indian rule in nearly two decades, Azad revoked the order — a move that led to further unrest, angering Hindus who staged protests in Jammu, a predominantly Hindu area of the state.

Following the protests, the People’s Democratic Party said it would no longer support the governing Congress party in the state. After Azad’s resignation other parties will be given a chance to form a majority coalition. If they fail, elections, already scheduled for October, could be brought forward.

“I am resigning,” announced Azad in the state assembly wherein 87 members belonging to various political parties were present, with the lone exception being former state chief minister and PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who is in the United States for medical treatment.

Addressing the house which assembled yesterday morning, Azad catalogued the achievements of his two-and-a-half-year-old government indicating earlier on his intention to resign. Azad then proceeded under heavily security to Raj Bhavan to formally hand over his resignation letter to the governor. The situation paves way for a brief spell of governor’s rule in the state, which is scheduled to go to polls in October this year.

The resignation comes as a surprise in view of Azad’s assertions over past week that he had the required majority in the house. Just yesterday while inaugurating the new legislature complex, he reiterated this position by stating that he will be inaugurating another fast upcoming project of Kashmir museum in next few days.

The National Conference’s decision not to stake the claim has narrowed down the options for Vohra. “The governor cannot under the present circumstances ask Azad to continue as the caretaker (chief minister) since he has already accepted his resignation,” said a Kashmir constitutional expert.

“The possibility of a caretaker chief minister arises only in case of the dissolution of the assembly, which would be highly inappropriate for Azad to recommend to the governor at this stage,” he said.