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Shahid Abbas in New Delhi & agencies
The Congress party on Tuesday night, after a meeting of senior party leaders chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi, said it has taken a decision on government formation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Congress leader Manmohan Singh, however, said the decision would be announced by Sonia Gandhi. Asked when the decision would be made public, he said, "It is left to her [Sonia Gandhi]."
A top Congress source told rediff.com that the meeting decided that the party should go alone in staking claim to form the government.
The source said the party would stake its claim before J&K Governor Girish Chandra Saxena on Thursday. The meeting also discussed the fallout of the split that would be engineered in the PDP for the Congress to form the government.
The Congress president also took into account the links of the PDP with militants before deciding to go alone, the source said. "She was concerned that a split in the PDP might have resulted in an upsurge in militant activity," the source added.
Gandhi was also conscious of the fact that the people of Jammu and Kashmir wanted an elected government and would not like governor's rule for long, the source said.
But publicly, the Congress maintained that there is still a possibility of a Congress-PDP alliance. Asked about a possible tie-up, Singh said, "We are still hopeful." He added all issues relating to government-formation were discussed threadbare [in the meeting].
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