HOURS before National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah took oath as the new Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress let it out that it would stay out of the government and provide outside support. J&K Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra said the party has been demanding restoration of statehood to the Union Territory from the Centre, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also promised the same several times, but to no avail. “We are unhappy, therefore we are not joining the ministry at the moment,” Karra said, adding that the Congress shall continue to fight for statehood. In the evening, after participating in the swearing-in in Srinagar, Rahul Gandhi posted on X: “Congratulations to CM Omar Abdullah and to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. However, government formation without statehood felt incomplete today. Democracy was snatched from the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and today we renew our pledge to continue our fight until statehood is fully restored.” Given that a J&K government can have only nine ministers, including the CM, Omar was expected to part at best with one Cabinet berth for the Congress, which won just six seats in the Assembly polls. Speaking to PTI Wednesday morning, Omar said: “The Congress is not out of the Cabinet. It’s for them to decide, and we have been in discussions with them… Some vacancies will be kept open as we are in talks with Congress.” Denying any rift with the Congress, he added: “Everything is well between the NC and Congress, otherwise (Mallikarjun) Kharge ji, Rahul (Gandhi) ji, and senior Congress leaders would not have come here (for the swearing-in).” While statehood as the official reason was reiterated by other Congress leaders such as new CLP leader Ghulam Ahmed Mir too, sources admitted multiple reasons were at play in not joining the government – which is J&K’s first in six years and which would have seen the Congress in power after 10 years here. A Congress leader said the dismal performance of the party in the Assembly elections, especially in the Hindu-dominant Jammu region, where it was expected to carry the weight of its alliance with the NC, was one of the main factors. “Our performance was very poor. Why should we join the government? The leadership is unhappy. Why should we reward ourselves with ministerships?” the leader said. Another leader also said the same, pointing out that till even a month ago, the Congress had expected to do well in J&K. “It would not have been appropriate for us to be a part of the government now… it doesn’t seem right.” The Congress angst is aggravated by the fact that the NC leadership, both Farooq and Omar Abdullah, did not hide their disappointment over their ally’s poor show. Towards the end of the campaign, as top Congress leaders were unable to reach for the last-mile push, Omar said the NC had “entrusted the Congress with a significant number of seats in Jammu”. But “unfortunately the Congress has not done as much in the plains of Jammu as we expected them to do”. The Congress contested most of the seats in the Hindu-dominated Jammu plains, and did not win even a single one, with the BJP increasing its tally from last time. In the Kashmir Valley, where the NC has a good ground presence and is the more dominant party, the Congress won five seats. At the same time, a leader said the Congress could not reach a consensus on who its sole minister would be. “We have six MLAs, and four of them have been Cabinet ministers in the past. So it was difficult for us to choose one name,” the leader said. “That’s also a reason the party decided to stay outside the government.” Apart from Karra and Mir, the former ministers among Congress MLAs are ex-PCC chief Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, and Nizam-ud-din Bhat. The leader added that the Congress would ideally have wanted to name a Hindu face as its representative in the government, but there is no Hindu in its tally of six. Another factor that weighed on the Congress, sources said, were the coming crucial Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Any move by the Omar government towards seeking restoration of Article 370 would have been used by the BJP to target the Congress in the elections. While the NC in its manifesto promised to strive for restoration of Article 370, the Congress ducked the question throughout the campaign, only saying that any government of theirs would function on a common minimum programme. That, of course, has no relevance any more as it is an entirely NC government – as of now. The “now” part was underlined by Karra himself, who said in his statement Wednesday that the Congress was not joining the government “at the moment". Talking to The Indian Express, he affirmed the same. Asked whether the Congress would not join the government till restoration of statehood, Karra said: “I can’t say till… I say we have raised a demand and we have asked the government to give us statehood. Let us see what happens. Politics goes on revolving. It does not remain static. I am not binding myself to that.” Asked why the Congress had suddenly decided to link its decision to join the government with restoration of statehood, Karra said, “It is because we fought the election on the issue of statehood. Our manifesto said our paramount consideration is statehood.” Karra added that the Modi government was bound legally and morally to restore statehood. “What is the reason they are not restoring statehood now?” On the NC, he said: “We are alliance partners, we are supporting them, but our demand is to the government of India… So someone has to take this issue to the public or to other forums.”
