National Conference-Congress (I.N.D.I.A) alliance which started on an equal footing with both the parties properly working out distribution of seats, barring a few hiccups, in their respective strongholds of Kashmir and Jammu respectively, is gradually taking a curious turn as the Union Territory (UT) assembly is inching to complete six months of its maiden term. What started on an even keel has in a short span of time evolved into a solo show.

Although discomfort is writ large on the face of chief minister Mr Omar Abdullah, a careful scrutiny of various interviews including one to the BBC, he has not let any opportunity go in expressing his friendly overtures towards the Centre. To be precise the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre. On the contrary, he has been critical, in some measures of the I.N.D.I.A combine supposed to be ruling Jammu and Kashmir with Congress and CPM as its part.

Ostensibly, and rightly too, he has another most important alliance in mind if his government has to survive. And that is the Lt Governor’s office, who in the case of the UT is the Centre’s all-powerful points-man.

Mr Abdullah is making the right noises while his more illustrious father Dr Farooq Abdullah, who has weathered many a political storm is quietly watching from the sidelines. In the midst of his frantic forays, attend weddings and wherever possible shake his leg, betraying the fact that he is touching ninety to maintain public connect, Kashmir is once again getting enveloped in a political mist. 

Definitely the Abdullahs are once again at a game of political survival. What makes it more interesting than the past is that they are trying to solve the jigsaw puzzle in an era different from the Manmohan Singh or Vajpayee era. The new era which unfolded with late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed forming an alliance government with Narendra Modi’s BJP, to the utter shock of many, has entered a different phase in the UT........

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