On a day of hectic consultations on Jammu and Kashmir, the situation in the state came up for discussion at the Congress Core Group meeting in New Delhi ahead of which NC chief Farooq Abdullah met Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The Core Group meeting, chaired by Sonia Gandhi, took stock of the latest situation in the state and the upcoming visit by an all-party delegation to the state on Monday. It deliberated on the Congress representatives to be part of the delegation.
Senior Abdullah's meetings with Sonia and Singh came against the backdrop of reports that PDP was making efforts to revive its ties with Congress with which it had run a government in the state for five-and-a-half years till August 2008.
"Omar Abdullah has no intention of stepping down nor is there any such move being made," the NC chief told reporters.
He accused the media of speculating such things, saying it plays "tricks" so that "one fellow should go down and second fellow should come up".
His statement came hours after Rahul Gandhi, who shares good equation with Omar, came out in support of the chief minister.
The NC welcomed Rahul's statement, saying the Congress general secretary has "great acumen to comprehend each and every situation. He has very clearly pointed out that the chief minister is handling a difficult situation and that he has the entire support and time to handle" the affairs.
