The Hindu : Front Page : NC-Congress to share power

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

NC-Congress to share power

Special Correspondent

Omar to head coalition government

Photo: S. Subramanium

HAPPY MOMENTS: National Conference president Omar Abdullah (right) gets a warm hug from the former J&K Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, in New Delhi on Tuesday. —

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday announced its decision to support the National Congress in government formation in Jammu and Kashmir under NC president Omar Abdullah and be part of the set-up.

Union Minister and in-charge of party affairs in the State Prithviraj Chavan told journalists that Congress president Sonia Gandhi accepted the NC proposal to form a coalition government.

The announcement capped a series of meetings the Congress central leadership had over the past two days and a meeting between Mr. Abdullah and Ms. Gandhi on Tuesday.

Mr. Abdullah and Ms. Gandhi were later joined by Mr. Chavan; Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Ms. Gandhi; the former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad; and State Congress chief and Union Minister Saifuddin Soz.

Mr. Chavan said representatives from both the parties would sit down to finalise the modalities of power-sharing.

Mr. Abdullah said the Congress leadership had made it clear that it expected to have a deputy chief minister. Describing his meeting with Ms. Gandhi as “extremely warm and cordial,” he said he told her that even though the mandate was fractured, the expectation of the people was not and now both parties had an opportunity to give a stable government.

During talks with the Congress, Mr. Abdullah said he did not get a sense that the party was seeking rotation of power, an arrangement the Congress had with the People’s Democratic Party.

Asked about the role of Rahul Gandhi in getting the arrangement working, Mr. Abdullah said the Amethi MP congratulated him on the electoral success.

Related stories:

It will be Omar

Kashmir results cut across communal fault lines

Pakistan conundrum hangs over Kashmir poll success

Mandate for secular democracy - Editorial

J&K verdict presents opportunity and some dangers

In the shadow of violence

Voters defy secessionists

For secessionists, humiliation follows hubris

Corrections and Clarifications

The Congress will support the National Conference, not the National Congress as was mentioned in the first sentence of a report "NC-Congress to share power" (December 31, 2008, page 1).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page