SRINAGAR, 14 October — Uncertainty over the formation of a new government in Kashmir persisted yesterday with the Congress and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) singing different tunes on who would be the chief minister.
While the Congress has been projecting its state president Ghulam Nabi Azad as its chief ministerial candidate, the PDP would like to see its chief Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in the office.
The PDP has also been sending conflicting signals on its view of Azad as chief minister.
Sayeed’s daughter and PDP vice president Mehbooba Mufti was quoted by a television news channel as categorically ruling out the acceptance of Azad as the new chief minister. But later Tariq Karra, the PDP general secretary, claimed Mehbooba had been quoted out of context.
“She was speaking in a different context. All she said was that given the great expectations of the Kashmiri people, the chief ministerial post must go to the Valley,” Karra told reporters.
Azad belongs to the mountainous area of Doda in Jammu, the region where the Congress picked up most of its 20 seats in the new 87-member assembly. The PDP bagged its 16 seats in Kashmir Valley.
Jammu and Kashmir has always had a chief minister from the Valley. With the Congress doing so well in Hindu-dominated Jammu area, it was thought the state would get its first chief minister from that region in Azad. But the PDP argues that since India is battling alienation of a large number of people in Kashmir, it is the Valley that needs to be appeased, not the Jammu region.
Karra, however, tried to dispel fears that efforts to form a coalition government had reached an impasse over the question of the next chief minister.
“There is no problem in Azad’s name being discussed as the future chief minister of the state. When Mufti Muhammad Sayeed returns from New Delhi, the party’s executive would discuss the possibilities of who should be the new chief minister.
“If consensus emerges between Sayeed and the Congress in New Delhi, it will have to be discussed at the PDP executive here,” Karra said.
Sayeed is currently in New Delhi for talks with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on government formation in Kashmir.
But even if PDP leaders publicly say their party is open to all probabilities, there is little doubt they are finding it hard to accept Azad as the chief minister. A meeting between PDP leader Muzzafar Hussain Baig and Farooq Abdullah — whose National Conference received a drubbing in the elections but remained the single largest party with 28 seats — here Friday is seen as a PDP “pressure tactic” on the Congress.
One section of the PDP even said Sayeed was close to becoming the new chief minister. Some leaders here said Sayeed, a former home minister, could then have Jammu-based Congress leader Mangat Ram Sharma as his deputy. In that case Azad, who in March reluctantly took over as state Congress chief after a long innings outside Kashmir, would be sent back to New Delhi.
But the possibility of an early government formation in the state looks remote given the extended disagreement between the PDP and Congress.
The two parties together have 36 seats and need support from independents and smaller groups to reach the numbers needed to form a coalition.
Several independents, including six belonging to the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic People’s Forum formed last week and two from the Communist Party of India-Marxist, have indicated they will back a Congress-PDP coalition.
Reports that the National Conference was also in touch with smaller groups to possibly prop up a coalition government in which it could play a key role has made the Congress and PDP step up efforts for reconciliation.
Governor G.C. Saxena has called leaders of the National Conference, Congress and PDP to discuss the modalities of government formation with him by Oct. 15.
“My party has been called for exploratory talks over the formation of the next government by the governor,” National Conference chief Omar Abdullah said. But Omar, who was defeated in his own constituency, has already ruled out participation in any coalition government.
If the PDP and the Congress are unable to resolve their differences and the National Conference sticks to its decision to sit in the opposition, Saxena might have to put the state under governor’s rule after Oct. 17, the day a new government should be in place according to constitutional necessities.
