On the other hand, Congress thinks that political situation has changed a lot since the Amarnath land row in 2008. “BJP hijacked the sentiments of people of Jammu in 2008 and managed to win 11 seats. But today, the situation is altogether different. We are not just safe as far as the Parliament seats are concerned but we have garnered support from entire Jammu region,” said a Congress leader on the condition of anonymity.
“We are still in coalition but the fact remains that Congress is stronger than it was earlier and has a capacity to win maximum,” Soz told Kashmir Life. “It depends how situation will take place. There can and can’t be a coalition.”
There is another view in NC regarding the crucial 2014 Assembly polls. “Some of its leaders want the chief minister to advance the Assembly elections by six months so as to go to polls together with the Lok Sabha elections next year,” sources very close to the party disclosed.
The National Conference, which was once part of the Vajpayee government at the Centre, had quit the BJP-led NDA a month before Assembly elections.
The only threat of separation from the UPA may, however, be that NC would need Congress support after the election in case of a ‘fractured mandate’. The Congress, too, doesn’t want to exploit the instability in the sensitive state and hence it would willingly support any party, the National Conference or the PDP, which is in a position to form the government.
Another silver lining for NC is the growing camaradeies between Omar and Rahul Gandhi. Rahul, according to sources, did a successful favour to Omar in 2011 by not enforcing the rotation formula to claim the chief minister’s post for his own party candidate after Omar completed three years in power.
Political commentators and analysts are of the opinion that the formation of PDP has ended the ‘hegemony’ of the NC in Jammu and Kashmir. It has been gradually but consistently expanding its ‘political landscape’. It increased its tally from 17 in 2002 to 21 in 2008, though it couldn’t form the government.
The NC has 28 legislators and the Congress 17 in the 87-member assembly. The main opposition PDP has 21 seats. The remaining 21 seats belong to the Bhartiya Janata Party, Jammu Kashmir National Panthers Party, the Communist Party of India-Marxist and independents.
But the ‘fissures’ have started appearing in NC-Congress ruling alliance much before the 2014 Parliamentary and State Assembly Polls. Congress leaders, in recent public speeches, even have demanded “snapping of the alliance with the NC before the 2014 elections.”
Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, the additional general secretary of NC, and the younger brother of party president Farooq Abdullah has also raised the ‘pitch’ against the Congress.
During his recent public meetings, Kamal said, “The pre-poll alliance with Congress depends on whether it suits the public interest. If it doesn’t, we will snap it (alliance). Then we will fight the Congress politically.”
