As the ruling National Conference secured a majority on its own by managing the support of five Independents, the sulking Congress decided not to join the Council of Ministers and offered outside support to the new government.
Although top leadership of the Congress including Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, AICC Chief Malikarjun Kharge, and party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attended the oath-taking ceremony, the party preferred to stay out of the government.
Highly placed sources said that Congress leadership was demanding two berths in the council of ministers but the National Conference leadership was not ready to give more than one. "As both the parties were strict to their stand, the Congress decided to stay away from the ministry and offered outside support to the Omar Abdullah government", sources said.
Sources said that out of the six elected MLAs of the party, three of them were staking their claims on ministerial berths.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) chief Tariq Hameed Karra said that the party has decided not to join the council of ministers in the newly formed Jammu and Kashmir Government as the Congress was "unhappy" that statehood was not restored to the Union territory.
]In a statement, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) chief Tariq Hameed Karra said that the Congress has strongly demanded the Centre to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi has time and again in public meetings promised the same.
"But, the statehood has not been restored to Jammu and Kashmir. We are unhappy, therefore, we are not joining the ministry at the moment," he said.
Karra, however, said the Congress would continue to fight for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday.
Besides him, five ministers — Sakina Masood (Itoo), Javed Dar, Javed Rana, Surinder Choudhary, and Satish Sharma — took the oath of office.
NC already secured a majority without Congress
By managing the support of five Independents, the National Conference has already secured a majority in the 90-member Legislative Assembly.
With 42 members in its kitty, the National Conference has managed the support of five Independents namely Satish Sharma, Dr Rameshwar Singh, Pyare Lal Sharma, Choudhary Mohammad Akram, and Muzaffar Javed Khan. The lone CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami and the only MLA of the Aam Aadmi Party Mehraj Malik have also offered support to the Omar Abdullah government.
Congress rebel Satish Sharma, who won the election from the Chhamb assembly segment of Jammu district as an Independent candidate by defeating former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, took oath as minister in the Omar Abdullah government.
After getting the unconditional support of four Independents the National Conference does not require the support of Congress to secure a majority in the 90-member legislative assembly.
After the declaration of the result, the Congress was considered a junior partner in the coalition government but with today's development, the Grand-old Party has been relegated to a non-entity in the coalition.
