Cracks in the Congress-National Conference alliance in Jammu and Kashmir have widened after the former accused the latter of 'betrayal' and declined to attend last evening's joint legislative party meeting. The meeting had been called by NC leader Farooq Abdullah ahead of the Assembly session that began this morning and Friday's voting for four Rajya Sabha seats.
The Congress has kept the NC waiting on its participation in the Rajaya Sabha elections after opting out of the race for the Upper House and also in a bye-election for Jammu's Nagrota Assembly seat.
In both the cases, the party had rejected the NC's offer.
These particular cracks appeared after the NC announced three candidates for the Rajya Sabha election, leaving only one for the Congress. The national party, however, has claimed the fourth seat is 'unsafe', i.e., based on seats held by it and the alliance, victory is uncertain.
The Congress, therefore, refused to field a candidate, and senior leaders blamed the NC of 'betraying' Abdullah's promise to Sonia Gandhi - that the party will get a 'safe seat'.
These cracks, coming as they do at the start of a week-long Assembly session, pose a challenge for Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who has appealed to both his ally and rival, ex-Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's People's Democratic Party, to vote against the BJP's Rajya Sabha pick.
The Congress has six MLAs and the National Conference 41.
Six independent lawmakers have backed Omar Abdullah's administration.
On the other side, the Bharatiya Janata Party has 28 MLAs.
The PDP has three.
Sans surprises, the NC will win three seats, but the fourth - the one offered to the Congress - is up for grabs, and the BJP is confident of victory.
