Overview
- Fifteen disgruntled NC MLAs met Farooq and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at Gupkar in a two-hour session on Friday to press three demands: a full cabinet reshuffle, removal of Omar’s adviser Nasir Aslam Wani, and formal ways to address legislators’ grievances.
- During the meeting Omar offered to resign several times but the MLAs and Farooq asked him to stay and resolve the issues internally.
- The leadership agreed to confidence-building measures including consultative committees for each minister and a manifesto-monitoring committee, but it did not accede to immediate ministerial replacements or remove Wani.
- The party has already suffered one public exit: NC MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi resigned his seat on November 3, and analysts warn coordinated resignations by a large bloc of MLAs could threaten the government’s narrow working majority.
- The meeting restored a public show of unity, yet sources describe the outcome as a temporary ceasefire and say the NC’s cohesion now depends on timely implementation of the promised steps and whether MLAs’ grievances are visibly addressed.