NC’s internal rumblings put Farooq Abdullah back in the saddle, overshadow Omar Abdullah

The confrontation between 17 ruling National Conference (NC) legislators and Kashmir’s first political family, the Abdullahs, has a rare spin-off. It pushed the 89-year-old party patriarch Dr. Farooq Abdullah back in the saddle to steer the party and shape the government functioning, after almost sliding back from the affairs run entirely by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

The two-hour meeting at Srinagar’s high street Gupkar Road ahead of Friday (November 6, 2026) prayers between the 17 disgruntled legislators and the Abdullahs saw Mr. Farooq Abdullah taking a lead role. His close confidante Ali Muhammad Sagar, who represents the party’s old guard close to Mr. Farooq Abdullah, was the point-man who was assigned the job of a firefighter and managed a breakthrough in the fragile times for the party.