The Congress party’s core group for Jammu and Kashmir met at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s home on Monday to discuss the political situation in the state, PTI reported.
The group is led by Manmohan Singh and includes Karan Singh, P Chidambaram, Ambika Soni and state party chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir. Soni is the party’s general secretary in charge of the state.
The party will hold a meeting of its legislators in the state in Srinagar this week to discuss the way forward, unidentified officials told PTI.
On Sunday, Ghulam Ahmed Mir and Ghulam Nabi Azad had ruled out supporting the Peoples Democratic Party to form the government in the state, as some reports had speculated.
“The Congress is not trying to form any government in the state,” Mir told The New Indian Express. “Our party won’t support any party, including the Peoples Democratic Party, in forming a coalition government in the state.”
Azad said the Congress would not tie up with the Peoples Democratic Party “now or in the future”. “There is no question, for now or in the future, of forging an alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party,” Azad told PTI.
The state is under Governor’s Rule and the Assembly is in suspended animation after the Bharatiya Janata Party withdrew from the ruling coalition in the state. The government was led by the Peoples Democratic Party, which has 28 seats. The BJP has 25 seats, the National Conference has 15, and the Congress has 12 seats in the state Assembly.
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