Farooq Abdullah says he will prefer to sit in Parliament

In an apparent hint as to who would be the CM in case National Conference comes to power in J&K, party chief Farooq Abdullah today said he "prefers" to sit in Parliament.

In an apparent hint as to who would be the Chief Minister in case National Conference comes to power in Jammu and Kashmir, party chief Farooq Abdullah on Sunday said he "prefers" to sit in Parliament.

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"I would rather be in Parliament," he told reporters here when asked if Omar or him would be the Chief Minister if the party forms the government.

Interestingly, the party had earlier projected Abdullah senior as its chief ministerial candidate during the elections to the 87-member assembly.

Meanwhile, paving the way for himself, NC President Omar Abdullah left the memories of the bitter defeat in the 2002 assembly elections behind and retained his party's traditional seat of Ganderbal defeating his nearest rival of PDP, Qazi Mohammed Afzal against whom he had lost the previous polls.

Asked who would be the next Chief Minister, Omar said a final decision would be taken later.

He said that in case of a hung assembly, the party would prefer to have an alliance with the Congress.

"Personally, I will prefer to have an alliance with the Congress," Omar said when asked whom his party would like to see as a coalition partner in the future government.

Ruling out any possibility of having a tie-up with BJP, Omar said his party would prefer to sit in the opposition rather than forming a government with the saffron party. The NC was a part of the AB Vajpayee-led NDA government.