Friday, October 28 2005 13:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Ghulam Nabi Azad will be the next Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir at the head of a Congress-led coalition as Sonia Gandhi, overcoming dilemma, chose to secure power for the party, ending uncertainty over transfer of power agreed with People's Democratic Party (PDP) three years ago.

Fifty-six-year-old Azad, at present Union Minister for Urban Development, would be sworn-in as Chief Minister at a ceremony at Srinagar on November two, a day after Diwali and on the eve of Eid.

In his first comments after the newsbreak, Azad said he would strengthen the ongoing peace process.

The announcement by the Congress that put to an end all speculation whether the incumbent Mufti Mohd Sayeed would get an extension in the post was made by All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Ambika Soni after discussions with Gandhi who talked to Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed.

With Azad set to become the Chief Minister, a Congress leader would be at the helm of affairs of the sensitive border state after a gap of some 30 years and the first after the outbreak of militancy in 1989.

The last Congressman who had held the post was Mir Qasim who stepped down in 1975 in the wake of the Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Abdullah accord.

Soni told a special media briefing that Sayeed and Mehbooba have assured Gandhi that their party would give full cooperation to Azad.

She sidestepped questions whether there were plans for inclusion of the outgoing Chief Minister in the Union Cabinet and whether there would be a swapping of portfolios between the Congress and PDP.

'No discussion has taken place' was her refrain.

Azad had led the Congress in the last Assembly elections in 2002, which saw the party winning 20 seats, mostly from the Jammu region. In a post-poll tie-up, Gandhi gave the PDP, which got 16 seats, the first go at power enabling the Mufti to become the Chief Minister.

As per the power-sharing agreement, the PDP and Congress were to head the Government for three years each with the Mufti's term set to end on November two.

Gandhi opted for Azad against the background of suggestions that Sayeed be given an extension for at least for one year in view of relief and rehabilitation work following the recent killer earthquake as also to further normalise the situation in the militancy-hit state.

Reports had it that the Chief Minister was frantically trying for an extension though on record he was speaking of handing over the baton on November two as scheduled.

The Congress taking over the reins in Jammu and Kashmir will take up the tally of states, where the party is heading the Government, to 16.

Azad, who is also Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, is known for his organisational skills having led the Congress as its general secretary to victory in several states, including Karnataka, Kerala and recently in Andhra Pradesh.

Azad had been a close associate of several Congress Prime Ministers and party chiefs since Rajiv Gandhi and was given key assignments by them in the last 20-odd years.

His moving to Jammu and Kashmir would create one more vacancy in the Union Council of Ministers whose expansion is being talked about for the last several months.

Shortly before the announcement of Azad's name as chief minister, Gandhi had a meeting with him as also Soni and held consultations with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had brokered the 2002 power-sharing accord between the Congress and PDP.

Replying to a volley of questions, Soni said talks will be held with coalition partners like the Panthers Party, Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist (M) and the Democratic Front on the issue of Government-formation.

To a query, she said the new Government would be formed on the same pattern of the outgoing ministry.

Earlier in the day, 21 party MLAs, MLCs and ministers from the state came out with a joint statement denying they had resigned from the Assembly or offered to do so to press for a Congress-led Government.

They s aid they would abide by whatever decision Gandhi would take in the matter.

They came out with the statement after a meeting with Soni as the reported move was seen as a pressure tactic and the Congress high command made it clear that indiscipline would not be tolerated.