Should Omar quit to pave way for fresh state polls?

With the National Conference- Congress coalition having drawn blank in Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir, voices are being raised from obvious quarters that it has lost moral right to continue to rule the state.

But local watchers said that the combine may not opt for early Assembly elections and wait till OctoberNovember this year when the present House will complete its stipulated six years’ term. The poll results have indicated majority of voters’ anger against the ruling coalition and seeking a fresh mandate from the people may land it in bigger trouble than it has been through and that too when the Congress has lost power at the Centre.

Also, majority of rank and file in both the NC and the Congress are against the idea of contesting the Assembly elections together.

In fact, it was the disliking of each other which led to cross- voting in several areas and it is an open secret now that while many NC activists and supporters voted in favour of the PDP candidates than their own allies from the Congress in Jammu region, those of the Congress reciprocated it in the Kashmir Valley.

Asked if he would also step down, chief minister Omar Abdullah said, “I’m still grappling with the question whether I should continue or not.” He reiterated, “We did not expect to do this badly. Nobody expected this. The result is entirely unexpected.”

He said that the next three to four months are not going to be easy. “It is going to be a tall order, but it is not impossible,” he said. Asked whether his alliance partners in the Congress were responsible for the defeat of NC candidates in the Valley, he said, “How can I blame them. We have done badly in Assembly constituencies, which are represented by our ( NC) Cabinet ministers.”