Decks Cleared In Kashmir For NC-Led Government Formation

NC vice president Omar Abdullah has called for a party meeting to determine the leader of the alliance who will stake claim for government formation.

Srinagar:A day after getting a landslide majority in the assembly elections, the National Conference (NC) and Congress alliance will meet on Thursday to elect the leader of the alliance and seek an early date from the Lieutenant Governor for swearing in of the Chief Minister and his cabinet.

NC vice president Omar Abdullah expressed his gratitude to his father Farooq Abdullah for naming him the next CM of Jammu and Kashmir, but Abdullah said that he would go by the procedure of the book of the party and the alliance. The NC leader won in Budgam by a margin of 18,485 votes and in Ganderbal by 10,574 votes, according to the Election Commission.

"We are calling a legislative party meeting of the party tomorrow (Thursday); subsequently there will be an alliance meeting. The alliance will determine the leader of the alliance and the leader will meet the LG to stake claim for government formation and request the LG for an early date for swearing in," Omar told reporters outside his residence in Srinagar.

Despite his father announcing him as the Chief Ministerial candidate, it will be the decision of the party and alliance to decide who would be nominated as the leader of the government, Omar said.

On the representation of the Jammu, Samba, and Kathua districts which elected BJP legislators to the assembly, Omar said that the NC-Congress coalition government will not be a government of the NC or the alliance or the government of those who voted for us.

"The government will be the government for individuals of Jammu and Kashmir regardless of who he voted for. The major responsibility will be to give a sense of ownership and representation to the areas where MLAs in the coalition will be less in number," he said.

NC and Congress won a landslide majority in the assembly elections held in the three phases after a decade. In the verdict declared yesterday, the NC won 42 seats in Kashmir Rajouri and Poonch, while its alliance Congress won five seats in the Valley and one seat from Rajouri.

Also, seven independents, among them five NC rebels, won the elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Omar said that "some independents" are in touch with the NC and will join the party. Laying out the first goal of the new government, Omar said that restoration of the statehood would be the first demand of the new cabinet.

"The first resolution of the new government will be to pass a resolution in the cabinet for restoration of the statehood. The CM will travel to New Delhi to call on the senior leaders of the country and apprise them about the resolution to press the government of India for early restoration of the statehood," he said.