National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah has rushed to New Delhi to assess the uncertain political situation at the Centre. Gujarat hasn’t cast any shadow so far on the party’s ties with the BJP, but the pressure exerted by certain NDA partners on Vajpayee has put the party in a fix.

‘‘We are seriously of the view that Modi should immediately go,’’ said the NC MP from Baramulla, A R Shaheen. ‘‘It’s a very serious issue but we have not taken any decision regarding the fate of our ties with the BJP. Such decisions are taken by our working committee. Our leader is in the capital and he will have a meeting with us MPs,’’ he said.

Party general secretary Sheikh Nazir Ahmad too said it was up to the working committee; the NC is basically waiting and watching. ‘‘Where is principled politics now? If TDP withdraws support, BSP and others are already ready to join in,’’ said Ahmad.

Actually, the working committee has little to do with all this. It’s Farooq, and Farooq alone, who will take the decision. And observers here believe he is not going to walk out of the NDA unless he is sure that the government will fall. If the BJP wins in the number game, Farooq will be very reluctant to snap his ties with the party on any ideological or moral grounds.

In fact, the ties between the NC and the NDA government had got strained when the Centre summarily rejected its autonomy resolution which was passed by the assembly but Farooq prefered to stay with the NDA — of course, with one eye on the fact that his son, Omar, is the minister of state for external affairs. The autonomy issue is at the core of the party’s existence and was its main poll pank in the 1996 assembly elections which the party won with a two-third majority. This, however, didn’t influence Farooq’s decision at all.

Earlier, when Farooq decided to forge an alliance with the BJP at the Centre for the first time, the only voice of dissent was that of former Union minister, Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz. He was immediately expelled. This time there is tremendous pressure on Farooq from within the party. Most of the senior leaders are feeling embarrassed for not coming out openly on the Gujarat issue.