The absence of many high profile Congress chief ministers will cast a shadow over the two-day meeting of the inter-state council which the Prime Minister will inaugurate in Srinagar tomorrow.
In a related development, the 8th Inter-State Council, which is meeting outside the capital for the first time in the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre on the banks of Dal lake, would mainly focus on the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-state relations.
The deliberate choice of the J&K capital as the venue for the meeting of chief ministers of all states was the NDA's bid to send a political message home and abroad. But the absence of most Congress chief ministers is being seen as a different sort of political message by the main Opposition party.
According to sources, of the 14 Congress chief ministers, the politically high-profile ones like Mr Digvijay Singh of Madhya Pradesh, Mr Ajit Jogi of Chhattisgarh, Mr S M Krishna of Karnataka, Mrs Sheila Dikshit of Delhi and Mr Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan will not be attending the meeting.
Some of these chief ministers are in Delhi today while some others have been here this week-end. Sources close to them told The Statesman that they were busy with official work and therefore have assigned their cabinet colleagues to represent them at the meeting. The chief ministers of Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are leading the Congress's electoral battle against the BJP in the Assembly elections, just a couple of months away.
Observers also see a message since the Congess-BJP bitterness has touched a new high after the recent no-confidence motion debate in Lok Sabha. The toppling of the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh has added to the rivalry.
The two-day meeting will be attended by Mr LK Advani, and senior Union ministers who are members of the council. The states will be represented by the chief ministers or senior ministers. The Union Territories will be represented by the Lieutenant-Governors and administrators.
Jihadi admits to LeT link
One of the three men who appeared in a US court on charges of running a local "jihad" network has admitted to receiving arms training in northern Virginia and LeT's terror camp in Pakistan for a possible mission in Kashmir, PTI adds from Washington.
While the three accused pleaded
guilty of "conspiracy and gun charges" in the Federal court in Virginia
yesterday, Yong Ki Kwon admitted that, besides in US, he received training
at a Lashkar-e- Taiyaba camp in Pakistan.