Sonia tells party unit to stand by Omar

Congress President Sonia Gandhi has asked her party leaders from Jammu and Kashmir to strengthen the hands of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in running the administration. The move comes following reports that some central leaders were trying to destabilise the coalition government by cosying up to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Congress President Sonia Gandhi has asked her party leaders from Jammu and Kashmir to strengthen the hands of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in running the administration. The move comes following reports that some central leaders were trying to destabilise the coalition government by cosying up to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

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Sonia told the leaders to refrain from any attempt to destabilise or to attack the six-month-old Omar government.

Reports suggesting that Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had criticised Omar style of functioning in meetings with “close associates” in Srinagar and parts of Jammu last month led to the development.

During his stay in Kashmir, Azad is said to have contacted senior PDP leader Sartaj Madni to seek the main opposition party’s support in “bringing down” the Omar government. “He asked the PDP leadership to forget the past and bury the hatchet. He also offered a larger share to the PDP in a coalition dispensation led by the party,” a top Congress functionary told HT on the condition of anonymity.

However, the PDP leadership is understood to have rejected the proposal.