Farooq Abdullah's National Conference may have lost the election but the outgoing chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir has not lost his spirit. Dr Abdullah who resigned from office on October 11 says his party has accepted the verdict of the people gracefully.

Speaking to Chief Correspondent Onkar Singh in Srinagar, he denied that handing over the party presidency to his son Omar Abdullah had an adverse effect on his party's performance.

After the verdict delivered by the people of Jammu and Kashmir, where do you stand?

The people of the state have given us a hung assembly. Governor Girish Chandra Saxena has already initiated the process for the formation of a new government. Whatever is the constitutional requirement is being done right now.

What possibilities do you see in this kind of situation?

We are not talking of any possibility. The fact of the matter is which party can form a government. All parties including the National Conference are trying to explore the possibilities to form a new and stable government. The government has to be such which can pull this state out of trouble.

Why did the National Conference lose the election?

We have yet to sit down, assess the situation and go to the bottom of the reasons behind our defeat. We have yet to come to terms with the reality of the situation. Let the dust of the election settle down before we do the post-mortem of what went wrong and where.

In this state we have reached a stage where coalition governments have become a reality. It has happened in other states and at the Centre. Now it is the turn of Jammu and Kashmir.

Are you reviewing your ties with the BJP which according to some of your colleagues was the reason for the downfall of the National Conference?

Look, I am not the one who will point fingers towards one party or the other for our own poll defeat. As far as ties are concerned these are constantly reviewed. They are reviewed every day. Instead of being a medical doctor, today I am a political doctor. I am reviewing the situation like a doctor would see his patient. The BJP sees me as a patient and I see them as a patient. So we are both looking for a doctor who can give life both to the BJP as well as to us, the National Conference.

Do you think you were too arrogant?

If we had been arrogant because we were in power you would not have seen so much development in the state right from the border to the Doda district. Unfortunately the media did not highlight our achievements and only focused on our shortcomings. If I had been complacent then I would not have gone to all the nooks and corners of the state to canvass for my party.

I went to the remotest places in Doda district as well. If we were too confident I would not have done so. In a democracy you cannot take people for granted. Certainly, the National Conference would not make this kind of mistake. I am the last man to have overconfidence.

Did you make a mistake of handing over the party presidency to Omar Abdullah a bit too soon?

No, I do not think so. I think it was time he took over the party presidentship from me. Because that is how the party felt about it. He is young. He is energetic. He has shown this by his performance in Delhi in the last four years in the Vajpayee government. He has proven his ability in every capacity. The nation knows him. Why just the nation, the whole world knows him. He proved he is competent.

If that is true, why did Ganderbal reject him?

I think Ganderbal's rejection is not because of him but because of me.

Why? Is it because you neglected Ganderbal?

He came only three months before the poll. It is not true I neglected Ganderbal. I have done enough for Ganderbal. I think you people in the media should visit Ganderbal and see the development for yourself and write about it. But somewhere I must have lacked in something. So I cannot put the blame for that on Omar Abdullah, my son. I have to blame myself. I failed and he unfortunately suffered because of me, because I failed.

Don't you think you should have led the party in the election and once you won, you could have handed him the party and the power?

Now you are doing a post-mortem. The time has not yet come to go into the causes for our defeat. Let the dust settle down then we would do the post-mortem as well.

You had indicated in Delhi that some forces had acted against the National Conference. Who are those forces?

I would not blame anyone for our defeat. As far as sabotaging is concerned, time would tell what happened behind the scenes. We have got full cooperation from Prime Minister Vajpayee, Home Minister L K Advani and the finance minister. Without them we would not have been able to pull this state out of a financial mess. Whatever has happened has happened and we have accepted our defeat gracefully. This is not the time to raise fingers against anyone. This is the time to put your own house in order.

Whenever the National Conference won, allegations of rigging were leveled against you. Now that you have lost everyone says the election was fair. Why?

I am glad because that is what they probably wanted to happen. They wanted to show how pure and good elections have been. They have succeeded.

Do you think the election was deliberately so designed?

I cannot yet say whether it was deliberately so designed or not. We are not in a position to assess anything as yet. Woh hakim guzar gaye jo nabaz dekh ke mariz ki bimari jaan liya karte the. If we had the slightest inkling that there was something wrong, we would have taken corrective steps immediately.

Is the National Conference making an effort to form a government?

As far as the question of formation of a government is concerned, we do not have the mandate of the people. If the Congress and People's Democratic Party are not able to form the government and the situation of a constitutional crisis comes, then we are not going to sit back and look at the situation drift. We have suffered and lost 500 leaders and workers. We are not going to say that we have lost so let the state go to hell.

Farooq Abdullah is not going to let that happen. Farooq Abdullah is a fighter. If that kind of situation comes out then Farooq Abdullah would come out and say that I would take the state forward. To hell with whatever happens.

The PDP talks about disbanding the Specials Operations Group, about the release of terrorists. Do you think in such a situation militancy would gain ground in Jammu and Kashmir?

You should direct this question to the Congress party which is trying to form a government with the PDP without sorting out these matters. Sonia Gandhi should answer this question, not Dr Farooq Abdullah because the National Conference is not talking to Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

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