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Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
Political compulsions have brought the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Conference together again.
National Conference chief Omar Abdullah may have resigned from the Union Cabinet, but his party continues to be a partner in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre.
The BJP and its ally from Jammu and Kashmir and had begun to drift apart after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee rejected the latter's demand for more autonomy for the state.
The differences sharpened as the two parties faced each other in the recently-concluded assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir.
But the elections are over now and both parties have suffered a drubbing. While the BJP won only one seat, down from last election's eight, the National Conference's tally shrunk from 57 to 29.
So is it time to start all over again?
Omar Abdullah on Monday handed over his resignation as minister of state for external affairs to Prime Minister Vajpayee. The resignation has not been accepted as yet.
After meeting Vajpayee at his Race Course Road residence, Omar Abdullah said the National Conference-NDA relationship would not change much even after his resignation.
Asked whether the NC was in the fray for government-formation in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar said: "No doors are closed."
The junior Abdullah also met Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani and the NDA convenor George Fernandes.
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