The Congress has opted out of National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah’s government in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) as it sought two ministries but was offered only one, people aware of the matter said on Wednesday.
A Congress leader said that top NC and Congress leaders will discuss the issue and try to hammer out a solution after Abdullah’s swearing-in ceremony. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, the Opposition leader in Lok Sabha, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will attend the ceremony.
Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav, Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s Prakash Karat, D Raja of the Communist Party of India, and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam lawmaker Kanimozhi were among other Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) leaders expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony.
Abdullah is due to take oath as the first chief minister of J&K since it was stripped of its semi-autonomous status in 2019 and downgraded to a Union territory. Eight ministers were expected to sworn in as well. But only six chairs were kept for the ministers at the venue of the inauguration ceremony after Congress decided to stay out of the government. Former minister Ghulam Ahmad Mir and J&K Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra were among the frontrunners to get ministerial berths.
J&K has been without an elected government since 2018. The NC-Congress alliance last governed the region from 2009 to 2014.
{{/usCountry}}J&K has been without an elected government since 2018. The NC-Congress alliance last governed the region from 2009 to 2014.
{{/usCountry}}The Congress has faced increased pressure from the allies after it suffered an unexpected loss in Haryana and underperformed in J&K. The BJP returned to power in Haryana, winning 48 out of the 90 seats while the Congress bagged 37 even as exit polls and surveys suggested a wave in its favour. The NC-Congress alliance won 49 out of the 90 seats in J&K.
The Congress bagged just six of the 39 seats it contested. It was expected to do well in the Jammu region, where it was in a direct fight with the BJP. But it won just one seat there.
Congress’s allies in poll-bound Maharashtra and Jharkhand have signalled a harder bargain following the electoral setbacks.
Allies such as the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Trinamool Congress, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, and the National Conference (NC) asked the Congress to introspect. They cautioned Congress against marginalising its partners. The Aam Aadmi Party called the Congress “overconfident” while reiterating there would be no alliance for the Delhi elections due early next year.
The SP also unilaterally announced six of the 10 candidates for the assembly by-polls in Uttar Pradesh. It was key to the INDIA bloc’s momentum in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections with unexpectedly strong results. The bloc won 233 seats and restricted the Bharatiya Janata Party to 240, below the majority mark of 272.