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The Congress and the People's Democratic Party, headed by former Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, have begun consultations on government formation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Expectedly, the going has been less than smooth with the bone of contention being the post of chief minister.
The main contenders are state Congress president Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is from the Jammu region, and PDP president Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, who hails from the Kashmir valley.
Azad has promised the Jammu people the first chief minister from the region, but PDP vice-chairperson Mehbooba Mufti has been vocal about the desirability of the chief minister being from the valley to end 'alienation' of the people from that region.
Addressing a press conference in Jammu, Azad parried all questions on the issue saying, "Talks are still on."
The 12 independents in the new assembly are likely to play a major role in the government formation process.
Six of them had recently joined together to form the Democratic People's Forum, headed by Ghulam Mohi-uddin Sofi. The outfit has already announced that it would back a Congress-PDP alliance, if it comes through.
Sofi was an associate of slain Peoples Conference leader Abdul Gani Lone and was recently expelled from the party for participating in the polls.
The DPF MLAs are likely to meet in Srinagar on Saturday to decide their future course of action.
"We are waiting for the Congress and PDP to finish their discussions," Sofi told rediff.com. .
"We want a stable government, which would try to mitigate the hardships faced by the people and take steps to resolve the Kashmir issue peacefully. We are yet undecided on whether to join the next government if given the opportunity," he said.
Sofi believes that it would take a week for a clear picture about the next government to emerge.
Significantly, leading Supreme Court lawyer and PDP MLA from Baramulla Muzaffar Hussain Beg on Friday had a nearly two-hour-long meeting with Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah at the latter's residence in Srinagar.
PDP sources described the meeting as 'a courtesy call' by Beg.
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