Winners all: Abdullahs seek Cong as partner

Srinagar: The National Conference on Sunday emerged as the single largest party in Jammu and Kashmir as counting trends indicated a hung legislative assembly.

PTI reports back-channel talks have begun between the National Conference and the Congress for forming a coalition government in the state.

"Personally, I would prefer to have an alliance with the Congress," said National Conference leader Omar Abdullah.

"We will approach the Congress. We always had good relations with the Congress. There is a lot of scope for Congress and National Conference to come together. We represent the entire state," he said.

Omar could emerge as the next Chief Minister of the sate. His father, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullhah, said Omar was ready to “serve” the state. “Omar is a young man ready to serve the people," said Farooq.

The National Conference won 29 seats in a House of 87. The PDP, which shared power with the Congress in the last Government, won 21 seats. The Congress grabbed 17 seats.

The Congress and the National Conference together have 46 seats in the Assembly and can comfortably make a claim in forming the government.

Farooq and Omar were declared winners from Hazratbal and Ganderbal constituencies, respectively. Omar, however, was defeated from Ganderbal in 2002.

PDP patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed won from Anantnag and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti bagged the Wachi constituency.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was chief minister in the last government, retained the Bhaderwah assembly seat.

CPI-M leader Muhammad Yusuf Rather (Tarigami) retained his seat in the assembly, narrowly winning from Kulgam in south Kashmir. Tarigami's victory came despite fierce opposition from supporters of hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani who were determined to defeat the veteran Marxist.

The Congress suffered a setback in the Jammu region, where the BJP has won three seats and is leading on 11.

BJP rise in Jammu

Cashing on the Amarnath land row, the BJP has done well compared to its single win in the last elections.

"We, in the BJP, have reason to be happy about the outcome in Jammu and Kashmir. We have done exceedingly well in Jammu and got the highest number of seats than in the past. We will play the role of a nationalist Opposition in assembly," said BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley.

BJP leaders said they would capitalise on the party's achievement for the Lok Sabha elections slated for next year.

"We will fight against discrimination of any region of the state, especially Leh, Ladakh and Jammu," said Jaitley.