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Onkar Singh in Srinagar
Though Governor Girish Chandra Saxena has extended till October 21 the deadline for government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress and the People's Democratic Party are nowhere close to reaching a consensus.
"We are still where we were last night," a Congress leader from Delhi told rediff.com on Thursday morning.
J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president Ghulam Nabi Azad, who visited PDP chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed before meeting the governor on Wednesday, is likely to remain busy with some personal engagement.
"He has to attend chautha ceremony of one of his relatives who passed away few days back," the Congress leader said.
There is virtually no activity in the PDP camp either.
"Our firm view is that since PDP defeated the Congress party in the valley, we should lead the new government. Now the ball is in the court of the Congress party," PDP chief Mufti Mohammed Sayeed told rediff.com
The Congress, on the other hand, maintains that it should lead the government since it has more seats than the PDP.
"The Mufti has still not returned the call of Azad so far. We are waiting to hear for him," Congress sources said.
Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami, who leads the seven-member People's Democratic Forum, had claimed on Wednesday that Azad visited the Mufti because of pressure from the independents, who were getting impatient with the squabbling of the two leading parties
National Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh has arrived in Srinagar to help in the process of government formation. His party has four legislators in the assembly.
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