Speculation mounted in political circles if Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah would go ahead with his threat to resign if the deadlock with ally Congress over new administrative units is not resolved. Congress leaders have dismissed it as a "political posturing".Abdullah called on Congress president Sonia Gandhi last week, seeking her intervention to prevail on the state Congress leadership on the issue.The chief minister Friday walked out of the meeting with his ministers who are members of the cabinet sub-committee tasked to furnish a report on the new administrative units on Jan 24. He later asserted he would have the new administrative units set up at "any cost".
According to reports here, a meeting of Congress ministers, including Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Irrigation Minister Shamlal Sharma and Urban Development Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora with Congress general secretary Ambika Soni, who is in charge of party affairs in the state, in New Delhi to resolve the deadlock had failed. The Congress leaders are opposing the new administrative units on the ground that the move is politically motivated as Abdullah's National Conference wants to gain mileage by setting up such units whereas in the Jammu region the Congress would lose ground because of the move. Insiders in the Congress told IANS that Abdullah's threats to resign is "political posturing since the cabinet meeting to discuss the report by the sub-committee is likely to be held before the prime minister's visit to Jammu on Feb 3". "The chief minister knows the Congress cannot afford to trigger a crisis around the prime minister's visit and thereby ensure that the Congress falls in line with National Conference's plans to push the creation of new administrative units."