PDP, NC and Congress to join hands to form govt in Jammu and Kashmir
Srinagar, Nov 21: Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday saw a flurry of political activities, including several meetings among leaders of the PDP, NC and Congress, aimed at cobbling up an alliance to form a new government in the state.
Veteran CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami met National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah here to discuss the feasibility of forming a new government by extending support to the Peoples Democratic Party, said a source privy to the development.
The source said the NC is willing to extend support to the PDP for forming government for now, but wants early dissolution of the assembly, kept in suspended animation since imposition of Governor's Rule on June 19, and eventually an election.
"The aim is to pave way for fresh polls in the state so that an elected government takes charge and the political uncertainty due to the Governor's Rule is put to an end," the source said.
He said the developments so far have been moving in the direction of possible formation of a new government in the state in coming days.
A senior Congress leader here said his party, in principle, supports any alliance that will "keep communal forces" at bay.
"We have been working for a grand alliance at the national level and there is no reason why we oppose any such move in the state as the aim is to keep communal forces out," said the leader.
He, however, added that no decision has been taken as yet on coalition with the PDP or any other party in the state.
Senior PDP leader and Amira MLA Kadal Altaf Bukhari is tipped to lead the government, if the PDP-NC alliance comes to fruition, according to sources.
The PDP has 28 MLAs, followed by NC's 15 and and the Congress' 12. The three parties together will have majority in the 87-member House. The BJP is the second largest party in the state with 25 members.
Coming together of traditionally rivals PDP and the NC would mark a significant realignment of political forces in the state.
The National Conference had offered its support to the PDP after the 2014 assembly polls but the latter had ignored the offer and aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
After the June 19 pull-out, People Conference leader Sajjad Lone is understood to have been approaching disgruntled PDP leaders for forming an alliance with the BJP, the sources said. People Conference has only two MLAs.
Imran Ansari, a former PDP minister, is among those who have been cosying up to the People's Conference.
A former separatist leader, Lone had been successful in breaking away National Conference's chief spokesman Junaid Muttu, who recently contested the urban local body elections and became Mayor of Srinagar.
Muzaffar Beigh, a founder member of PDP, on Tuesday held a press conference where he alleged that the PDP "betrayed the workers, denying them a chance to connect with the people, by boycotting the local bodies elections".
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
