Date:07/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/07/stories/2008070755541200.htm

National

Bhim Singh accuses NSA of coercion

Praveen Swami

NEW DELHI: Facing a confidence vote in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly the Congress has been attempting to secure the numbers which will see it through.

It hopes to rope in a breakaway faction of four PDP dissidents, Ghulam Hassan Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Qazi Mohammad Afzal and Ghulam Hassan Mir.

Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh has alleged that National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan sought to coerce him into ordering the party’s four MLAs to support the coalition.

Officials in New Delhi have angrily denied the allegation, which they say was intended to prevent the looming split in the Panthers Party’s ranks.

Should the Congress efforts to gain support fail, sources close to Governor N.N. Vohra said the National Conference, which with 28 MLAs is the largest single party in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, would be invited to form a government.

However, National Conference chief Omar Abdullah has already said his party would refuse the offer.

Fresh elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly are scheduled to be held in September or October, 2008.