Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah

The National Conference and the Bharatiya Janata Party are on the verge of reaching a deal in the run up to the formation of the next government in Jammu and Kashmir, where the Assembly elections threw a fractured verdict earlier this week.

According to sources in the BJP, the Omar Abdullah-led party will get the Deputy Chief Minister post , one Rajya Sabha seat and one Cabinet berth at the Centre. There has been no confirmation from the two parties, with senior BJP leader Ram Madhav even denying any meeting between the two parties on Twitter.

But Headlines Today reported that the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister met BJP president Amit Shah and Union Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on Thursday, triggering speculation over whether the two parties are exploring options to form the state government together.

The BJP won 25 seats while the National Conference won 15 seats in the 87-member Assembly, four seats short of a simple majority if the two come together. The People's Democratic Party (PDP) emerged as the single largest party with 28 seats. The BJP says it has support of at least five independents, which means Shah's ambitious plan to have a BJP chief minister in Jammu and Kashmir may well turn into a reality.

The BJP's newly elected MLAs also met in Jammu on Thursday to decide on their chief ministerial nominee. Jaitley and Madhav also attended the meeting. Reports also said Madhav is expected to meet People's Democratic Party chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed later on Thursday.

Asserting that it has several options, the BJP said it will play a "crucial" role whoever forms the government in Jammu and Kashmir. Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the MLAs, Jaitley said, "Whoever forms the government, BJP will have a crucial role to play in view of the fact that it has the highest popular vote in the elections We will go (ahead on the issue of government formation) with three principles based on national and state interest. They are: strengthening of national sovereignty, development and regional balance," he said.

Without revealing the strategy, he said the party was in touch with unattached MLAs but described as inaccurate reports that it was in discussions with other party leaders in the state. "Whether to wait and watch or be active, we will not talk about the strategy to the media," he said, adding there are no two opinions among the MLAs on the strategy to be adopted.

Explaining the highest popular mandate for the party, Jaitley said the BJP won 25 out of the 76 seats it contested where as the other major parties contested all the 87 seats. "Our votes is higher than those who have contested all the seats. Our strike rate is high. We have the highest popular vote. We have an overwhelming mandate in the Jammu region while the Valley has been divided between PDP (25 seats), National Conference (15) and independents (5)," he said.

On Wednesday, Omar Abdullah signalled his intention to stake claim to form the government despite a weak mandate for the National Conference in the just-concluded Assembly elections. "Incidentally in 2002, Mufti became CM with 16 MLAs and NC with 28 sat in opposition, so excuse me if I don't oblige by rolling over to play dead," Abdullah said in a tweet on Wednesday.

Abdullah submitted his resignation to Governor N N Vohra on Wednesday amid speculations over new political equations emerging between the PDP and other potential stakeholders that target 44+ seats to pitch for government formation. "6 years ago I drove in to stake my claim to form a government in J&K, now I'm driving in to resign. The wheel comes full circle," he said on Twitter.

Shortly afterwards, his Twitter account announced in boldface - "Keep calm cause I'll be back." He also changed his bio there to: "Former CM of J&K; MLA from Beerwah, Budgam (the gateway to Gulmarg)."

