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Congress MLAs on Monday elected senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to head the party in the state legislature indicating that the party has rejected the claims of the People's Democratic Party to the chief minister's post.
Azad's unanimous election as Congress Legislative Party also scotched rumours that he was not keen on state politics.
The party got a further boost when Panther's Party leader Bhim Singh announced that his party would support the Congress provided the chief minister was from the Jammu region.
Sensing the mood, the PDP appears to be resigning itself to the loss of the chief minister's post.
"We are not after the chief ministership. We want to implement our party's programme and fulfil our promises," PDP vice-president Mehbooba Mufti told rediff.com.
The climbdown came after several hours of closed door talks with former Union home minister and party chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who was back from Delhi after talks with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
A top source close to the Mufti said that there were serious differences between the Congress and the PDP even over the common minimum programme.
The PDP wants revocation of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), disbanding of the Special Operations Group of the J&K police, holding of unconditional talks with militants and separatists and release of jailed political leaders.
The "party is busy discussing all possibilities and it would be pre-mature to say anything," was all that the Mufti was willing to tell mediapersons after his arrival in Srinagar.
All this time, the Congress was relentlessly wooing independents MLAs and smaller parties to strengthen its claim to the chief minister's post.
On Monday evening, Azad met MLAs of the Democratic Peoples Forum (DPF), a grouping of six independents headed by Sofi Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din. It is believed that Sofi has assured the party's support to Azad.
"Prof Bhim Singh of the Panthers Party has already announced his support to the Congress. We have the support of most of the independents and small parties. We have the numbers to form a government and would be meeting the governor to stake our claim. If need be, we will parade our MLAs before the governor," said Taj Mohiuddin, senior general secretary of the Congress unit in Jammu and Kashmir.
As of now, Dr Farooq Abdullah it seems is not in the race. But there are indications that he has not entirely ruled out staking claim to form the government with the support of independents and small parties.
Farooq's National Conference got a shot in the arm when two independent MLAs, from Zadibal and Banihal, joined the party. However, the party is still woefully short of the magic number of 44, required to form a government.
With the mandate clearly against the NC, not many MLAs are willing to invite the people's wrath so soon by aligning with it.
If no party or alliance manages to muster the required number of MLAs, Governor Girish Chander Saxena would be left with no choice but to impose a spell of central rule.
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