New Delhi: The Jammu and Kashmir assembly election results reflect a "paradigm shift" in political thinking of the people, the Congress said Monday.

The paradigm shift has been from masla-e-Kashmir to masaail-e-Kashmir (the issue of Kashmir to issues in Kashmir), Congress spokeman Manish Tiwari told reporters. He said with the seven-phase polling that ended last week, the electoral process that recommenced in the militancy-affected border state in 1996 was reinvigorated. According to the results announced Sunday, the National Conference emerged the largest party with 28 seats in the 87-member assembly but lacks majority to form a ministry onm its own.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) bagged 21 seats while the Congress won 17 seats, and is in a position to support either party to form the next govenment. "I will not call it a fractured mandate. Rather, it reflects the diversity of Indian politics," the spokesman said. It is an unspoken message of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to separatist forces. Their call for a poll boycott was rejected and they have to decide whether they want to be in the mainstream or not, Tiwari said.

Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of indulging in sectarian politics, he said: The saffron outfit did not hesitate in using divisive and sectarian agenda for political gains. They have to decide whether it worked or not as they could just manage to win 11 out of the 37 seats in the Jammu region."

Source : IANS