Srinagar: The cracks between National Conference (NC) and the Congress appear to be deepening after the latter was snubbed from a key performance review meeting convened by the elected government at the picturesque national park on the outskirts of the summer capital Srinagar.Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday (June 3) convened a key meeting in Srinagar to deliberate on legislative strategies and public welfare. Apart from taking stock of the work done in the past one and a half year, the party also decided to hold a protest at Jantar Mantar on the opening day of the parliament’s Monsoon Session to press for the restoration of full statehood and constitutional guarantees for Jammu and Kashmir.However, the six Congress MLAs supporting the government were left off the guest list. Abdullah had specifically restricted the invitation list to his own 41 party MLAs and five supporting independent lawmakers. The deliberate omission of the six Congress MLAs has further fuelled political buzz, that cracks between NC and Congress have widened. Speaking to The Wire, president of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Tariq Hamid Karra said that the onus for sustaining the alliance lies with the NC. “We [Congress] have been repeatedly reminded that we have only six MLAs in the assembly. But they [NC] must understand that we still play a significant role in the government. Coming out of the alliance would create a survival issue for the government,” said Karra, who serves as a legislature for the Central Shalteng constituency in Srinagar“I represent 150 parliamentarians (in Lok Sabha and Raj Sabha) and around 700 to 800 MLAs across the country. So, people shouldn’t measure us just by our strength in the J&K assembly.”The latest rift took place when Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti wrote an open letter to NC, Congress and also to the BJP, calling for a joint front to engage with New Delhi. In a letter, Mufti called for “Ladakh-like united outreach to the Prime Minister (PM) and Home Minister (HM) to initiate a sustained dialogue with the people of J&K.” However, the letter has received a lukewarm response from the other parties. The latest initiative was not the first effort to forge unity among regional political parties. In 2021, Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) – an alliance of PDP, NC, PC [People’s Conference] among others were formed to seek the restoration of Article 370, which New Delhi revoked unilaterally in 2019 without the consent of the regional stakeholders of Jammu and Kashmir.However, the alliance collapsed in the run -up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections after two major regional parties, PDP and NC, failed to reach an agreement on seat-sharing in the Valley. The Sajad Lone-led People’s Conference had already distanced itself from the alliance.Also read: Ladakh ‘Breakthrough’ Spurs Calls For Unity in J&K as Statehood Restoration Promise Remains UnfulfilledKarra said Congress’s principal stand while going with a coalition government was to keep the BJP at bay and suggested that people holding the chair [NC] must ensure their allies feel respected and included.“It is for the senior partner [NC] to see that alliance partners are comfortable. Our MLAs and district presidents have often voiced their concerns about not being considered (valued by the NC). At times, it gets slightly uncomfortable for me to explain this to party workers,” Karra said.Referring to Wednesday’s meeting convened by the NC, Karra said the Congress would have participated had it been invited. “If at all, Congress would have been invited; we would have participated. But no one reached out to us. We are supporting them [NC] from outside and do not hold any cabinet berth or control any institution. It is for them [NC] to understand the implications of that.” Responding to the NC’s proposal to stage a protest in New Delhi, Karra said Congress was the first party that vociferously travelled across Jammu and Kashmir projecting the demand for the restoration of statehood, “but at that point of time no one responded to our calls.”Karra added that the party would consult its central leadership about it before taking a final call [on the protest]. A fragile coalitionThe 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly has a threshold of 46 seats. The Congress-NC alliance secured 49 seats. Of these, 42 seats belong to the NC, six to Congress and one to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The five independent MLAs also threw their weight behind the NC to secure a comfortable majority in the House.The coalition was fragile from the very beginning, given the stark imbalance in terms of elected membership, said Srinagar-based political analyst Noor Ahmad Baba.Baba said NC never felt the necessity to carry Congress along because of its small legislative presence, while Congress deliberately stayed out of the government to avoid being tied to NC’s performance.“There is a problem with both sides. Each party is safeguarding its interest. That is why this coalition is fragile in its structure,” Baba said.Baba pointed out that though there is every reason for J&K regional parties to form a united front, practically achieving such unity has become increasingly difficult.“There is a fundamental difference between Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. It [Ladakh] is a compact region where religious leadership helps them to come together. In J&K, there is a lot of political diversity and competition internally,” Baba said. After months of protests and negotiations, the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) on May 22 announced an in-principle agreement with New Delhi on restoring democratic governance in Ladakh and providing constitutional safeguards similar to those under Articles 371A, 371F and 371G.Congress should put its own house in orderNegating any differences with the Congress, NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said the Congress should focus on resolving its internal issues before questioning the alliance.“Congress is suffering from its internal conflicts and should set its own house in order first. There is no coherence in Congress. There are groups within the party. There is a problem within the party; they need to sort it out first,” Dar said. Dar was referring to former JKPCC chief Vikar Rasool Wani’s revolt against state president Karra in which he questioned the alliance with the NC and accused the state party leadership for maintaining the coalition for their own interest. Karra in return while calling Wani a “frustrated and dejected lot” said the alliance with NC was for a “larger interest” decided by the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Malikarjun Kharge.Dar said NC wants Congress to become a part of the government and has kept a ministerial position vacant to accommodate them. “We [NC] have no differences with the Congress. Omar sahab [CM] wants Congress to be a part of the government. It is them who have to take the call,” Dar said.On the Congress not being invited to Wednesday’s meeting, Dar said chief minister might hold a separate interaction with Congress MLAs at an appropriate time“Omar sahab will have separate meetings with them, so don’t jump the gun,” Dar said.Congress a ‘water boy’The widening rift between NC and Congress has provided the opposition BJP fresh ammunition to target the government. Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma said that the NC-led government was on the verge of collapse, describing chief minister Abdullah’s June 3 meeting as the “last attempt to save a sinking ship”. Jammu and Kashmir BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur seconding Sharma compared Congress to a “water boy” in a cricket match arguing that it has no relevance in the alliance.“Congress is crumpled and it needs regional parties’ support to run, not just in Kashmir but across the country. Here [in Kashmir] NC has kept it [Congress] like a water boy [in a cricket match] who will never make it into the playing eleven,” Thakur told The Wire. Calling the June 3 meeting a “picnic”, Thakur said the NC’s proposal to stage a protest in New Delhi is a direct attack on Kashmir’s tourism sector.“What message does the NC want to send to the rest of the country. After the Pahalgham attack, tourism has just begun to revive in Kashmir but the NC intends to send a negative message that things are not well in the Valley,” Thakur said. “This government is doomed to drown like a sinking ship,” he added.Junaid Kathju is a freelance journalist based in Srinagar. He tweets @JunaidKathjoo.