The odds are apparently stacked against Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad when he seeks to prove his majority in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Monday, but the confidence he exudes suggest that his government might just scrape through.
Opposition National Conference, BJP and erstwhile partners of Congress in the state government - People's Democratic Party (PDP) and National Panthers' Party (NPP) - have publicly stated that they are not going to support Azad in his attempt to continue in power till the end of his term on November 2.
The PDP, which entered into a power sharing agreement with Congress and an assortment of independent MLAs following a hung verdict in 2002 polls, pulled out from the Azad-led government and withdrew support to it on June 28 over the issue of Amarnath land transfer.
The PDP decision reduced the government to minority.
Governor N N Vohra asked the chief minister to prove majority on the floor of the house on July seven after Azad in a written communique informed Raj Bhawan that he enjoyed the support of majority of the assembly.
National Conference, PDP, NPP and BJP together have 48 members in the 89-member state assembly in which two women members are nominated by the governor.
However, the chief minister has appeared unfazed even after the pull out by the PDP and public statements by National Conference leaders that they will not support the government.
A day after PDP pulled out, Azad rather happily announced that he had forwarded all the resignations to the Governor which were accepted.
© 2024 Rediff.com -