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Stalemate in transfer of power in Kashmir
by Maya Singh

     New Delhi: The stalemate over whether a Congress party chief minister will assume charge of the government in Jammu and Kashmir on November 2 continues. Neither incumbent Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed nor Congress party President Sonia Gandhi were willing to comment on their deliberations of the past two days, which reportedly focused on the change of guard in the northern state. Sayeed, who called on Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Monday, was very deliberate in playing the transfer of power issue down, saying that he had only discussed earthquake relief and rehabilitation issues. Sources, however, said that he had apprised the Prime Minister of his views on transfer of power in the State, as also on the relief and rehabilitation measures being undertaken by his government in Uri and Tangdhar, the areas worst affected by the October 8 earthquake. He is also said to have thanked the Central Government for the help and aid extended to the Government of Jammu and Kashmir so far, but sought assistance for the setting up of some permanent structures before winter settles in.

    Congress President Sonia Gandhi spent most of Monday deliberating with party leaders, including the Prime Minister, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Congress legislators Karan Singh, Saif-ud-din Soz and M L Fotedar about the stance the party should take on the transfer of power issue. Union Urban Development Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is being projected as the party's chief ministerial candidate in the state, was also present. On Sunday, Gandhi had met Sayeed and his daughter and People's Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Mehbooba Mufti over the matter. Under the power sharing agreement between the allies, Sayeed's governing PDP is to transfer control of the state government to the Congress on November 2, after completing three years in office to pave way for the coalition partner to head the alliance government.

    The 2002 assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir had resulted in a hung assembly, and as a compromise formula to form a government in the state the PDP, the Congress and the Panthers Party forged an alliance. The bigger alliance partner the Congress, with 20 seats in a 87 member Assembly decided to install the then PDP president Mufti Muhammad Sayeed whose party had a tally of 16 seats, as the chief minister for three years. As per the power-sharing formula, it was also decided that the Congress would assume the reins of the state for the second half of the six-year term. Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir are held every six years, as against other states that go to polls every five years. Though Mufti's term comes to an end on November 2, the situation arising out of the October 8 earthquake has created a situation that could see Mufti continuing as the state's chief minister for an interim period of at least a year, if not for a full three year term, given the Congress party's reluctance to assume charge at this juncture. Sources privy to the PDP claim that Mufti is not willing to remain in office as a stop gap arrangement, but wants a full three year term if it is offered by the Congress. Another option is for the Congress to tie up with the opposition National Conference (NC) headed by Omar Abdullah, which is still the majority party in Jammu and Kashmir with 28 members in the State Assembly. In past, the two parties have been alliance partners. They fought the 1987 polls together, but the NC joined the NDA, following the 1999 general elections in the BJP-led Vajpayee government in which the current party chief Omar Abdullah was a member of the Union Council of Ministers. It is only recently that the NC parted ways from the NDA.