Click to play videoSrinagar: It seems like the Jammu and Kashmir elections are turning into a family feud. While former chief minister Farooq Abdullah has been the National Conference's dominant choice for Chief Minister, his son and party president Omar Abdullah is popular among the youth.
In exclusive interviews to CNN-IBN, both seemed at odds over Farooq's announcement that he will be the next chief minister of the state.
“I think Farooq Abdullah is the Chief Ministerial candidate for a couple of years because finally Omar has to take over,” Farooq said.
Reacting to his father’s chief ministerial ambitions, Omar said, “He knows that he is going to have to deliver. He is going to have to do a lot more than he has been able to do in the past.”
But all through the day it had seemed clear that Farooq, not Omar would be the NC's top candidate. However, Omar said that it is unlikely Farooq would want to head a coalition government.
“I do remember a couple of interviews of his where he told the media that he would prefer not to head a coalition government,” Omar said.
“It doesn't matter to me who the CM is. I've been CM many times over,” Farooq said.
But is Farooq's U-turn on the Chief Ministership a case of father-son rivalry or a desire to keep the party together?
According to sources in the National Conference, senior party leaders think that Omar's age and inexperience at the state level is a disadvantage.
“I am all of 38 so I’ve still got time and age on my side. Let's see what happens. There's many a slips between the cup and the lip,” Omar added.
The discord erupts even as many young supporters of the party are rooting for Omar Abdullah, impressed by the growth that he has shown over the years since he was first crowned the NC's president in 2002.
The Congress is also reportedly more comfortable with Omar leading a possible alliance - especially given his equation with party heir Rahul Gandhi that reminds many of similar alliances between their fathers Rajiv-Farooq and their grandfathers Nehru-Sheikh.
As coalition negotiations begin in earnest on Monday, the question is will the Omar-Farooq equation cast a cloud over the National Conference's chances at power, and benefit its rivals the PDP, or will the seeming feud in the Abdullah family blow over in due course.
(With inputs from Raheel Khursheed)
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