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Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar
Jammu and Kashmir was headed for a constitutional crisis after Farooq Abdullah announced on Thursday that he would not like to continue as acting chief minister.
Abdullah met Governor Girish Chandra Saxena in the morning and told him that "I have no moral right to stay in power after midnight tonight."
"It is up to him now. I am waiting for his reply," he said after the meeting.
The governor, who had set October 21 as the deadline for government formation, will now have to act fast. As the term of the assembly ends today, he will have to either impose governor's rule or invite the single largest party to form the government.
The Congress and the People's Democratic Party, despite several rounds of negotiations, have so far failed to come to an understanding.
"There is already a delay of so many days and no one has been able to form a new government in the state," Abdullah said.
"Neither I, nor the state governor, wants to create a situation where we have to impose governor's rule in the state. But both the Congress and PDP are fighting whether they will have the chief minister from the valley or Jammu.
"I don't know what good they would do to the people if they cannot form the government and fulfil the promises they made...," he said.
On the results of the assembly election, Abdullah said, "Who says it was a vote against my party [National Conference]. We got seats in Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir valley. The Congress got seats only in Jammu while the PDP got the 16 seats from the valley. Why should I form the government? It will be decided by the party president [Omar Abdullah]. I was only criticised by everyone while we were in power."
He described the re-deployment of troops on the border as a "good step". "There was no war. Pakistan will be happy now that I am no more the chief minister of the state. Pakistan should thin its troops from the border and open its airspace."
The NC would win the next election with a huge majority, he said, adding, "in the present situation I cannot afford to retire from politics."
"Why should Farooq change because power is gone. Farooq won't change."
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