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While asking each other to "honour the mandate of the people", the Congress and the People's Democratic Front on Friday continued to haggle for power in Jammu and Kashmir.
J&K Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ghulam Nabi Azad asked the PDP not to make the formation of government a "prestige issue".
"The party [PDP] should realise and respect the people's wishes who had given their mandate for an anti-National Conference government," he said after a two-and-a-half-hour meeting of newly elected legislators in Srinagar.
"All of us here want to form the new government at the earliest," he said before heading to New Delhi to meet the party high command.
Azad said he wanted to meet PDP president Mufti Mohammed Sayeed before going to New Delhi, but was short on time.
The PCC chief said 20 legislators from the Congress, four from the National Panthers Party and seven independents attended the meeting.
Asked about the imposition of Governor's rule in the state, Azad said he failed to understand the necessity for such a move after time was given till October 21 to form government.
"Congress party has the written support of nearly 40 MLAs, but I did not want to stake a claim, as all of us here want to take the PDP along," he said.
Asked if Governor Girish Chandra Saxena had acted in haste, Azad chose to blame former chief minister Farooq Abdullah.
"If he [Abdullah] could stay [as acting CM] for seven days after resigning, he could have [continued] for five more days. There was no harm to him," he said.
"I don't know what role the Government of India or Farooq Abdullah played in the imposition of Governor's rule," he added.
In a veiled criticism of the PDP's insistence that the chief minister should be from the Kashmir valley, Azad said, "We should remember that the forces of regionalism have been defeated in the elections."
"The BJP and Jammu State Morcha had made trifurcation of the state their main issue and were defeated. Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are one unit and should stay that way," he added.
However, PDP vice-president Mehbooba Mufti said the Congress had created a situation where Jammu region and Kashmir valley were perceived to be against each other.
Claiming that a PDP chief minister would provide a "healing touch", Mehbooba said, "The Congress should understand that it was the PDP that bagged 16 seats and marginalised the NC to 28 seats, thereby ejecting them from the valley."
Rejecting allegations that the PDP was responsible for the present stalemate, Mehbooba, the daughter of the Mufti, said, "This is not a tussle for power, but our commitment to honour the aspiration of the verdict of the people, particularly the valley, and promises made by us to them."
The Congress had governments in 14 states, she said, adding, "heavens will not fall if in a 15th state a non-Congress government is formed".
Some of her colleagues expressed hope that a government would be formed soon.
"There is every hope that political parties will realise their responsibility and, respecting the verdict of the people, forge a political formation during the next couple of days and form a government," party vice-president Muzaffar Hussain Beig said.
Another PDP leader, Ghulam Hassan Mir, said, "Political parties will join hands, sink their differences and chalk out a common minimum programme."
He hoped the Governor's rule would not extend beyond one week.
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