File photo of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
The Congress today hoped that differences that the differences that had cropped up between it and Omar Abdullah's National Conference over the proposal to create new administrative units in Jammu and Kashmir would be resolved soon.
"That's the beauty of democracy. Allies are entitled to their opinion. We'll sort this out when we sit together,'' Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters.
The proposed restructuring of administrative units in the state had created fissures between the two UPA partners, together since 2008. A cabinet sub-panel headed by deputy chief minister Tara Chand Sharma, a senior Congress leader from the Jammu region, has sought to trump the NC by recommending the formation of 2000-2500 new administrative units, against the 700 favoured by Mr Abdullah's party.
The sub-committee was formed by the NC-Congress government to examine the recommendations of the Mushtaq Ganai panel, which had come up with the idea of reorganizing the state's administrative structure to bring administration at people's doorsteps.
The J & K Chief Minister, in his meeting with senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni and Saifuddin Soz in the capital on Monday night, had warned that the six-year-old alliance between the two parties could collapse if the proposal for forming new administrative units was not accepted by the junior partner. He also alleged that the Tara Chand sub-committee was dragging its feet on submitting its report, and warned that the alliance could collapse if things were not sorted out.
In the 87-member assembly, the NC has a contingent of 28 members, while the Congress has 17 MLAs. Elections to the state assembly, NC leaders have warned, could be advanced and held along with the Lok Sabha polls.
Relations between the two partners have never been easy, and have survived only because of the personal equations between Mr Abdullah and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, both of whom are of the same age, 43.