Srinagar: National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Friday ruled out any split in the party and promised a step-by-step response to what he called “genuine issues” raised by 17 disgruntled legislators. The assurance came after a two-hour meeting with the top leadership in Srinagar on November 6, 2026.

Abdullah did not mince words about the rumours that have gripped the party for over a week. “The baseless news of the National Conference (NC) splitting into groups is totally wrong. The party stands together. Those who think the party could be split: it was never, and it will never be split.”

The meeting was a direct response to a revolt that began quietly and then broke into the open. The 17 legislators held a separate meeting in Srinagar on October 27 and forwarded a joint resolution covering a slew of issues. Their demands included removing CM Omar Abdullah’s adviser, Nasir Aslam Wani, and reassigning the Roads and Buildings (R&B) portfolio, currently held by Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary.

The timing was sharp. The political upheaval was sparked hours after CM Abdullah expanded and reshuffled the Cabinet on October 27. Three senior leaders, Mubarak Gul, Nazir Gurezi and Abdul Majeed Bhat Larmi, publicly showed heartburn over not being inducted into the Cabinet. That public discontent is what turned a closed-door grievance into a headline.

Abdullah was accompanied at the meeting by NC vice president Omar Abdullah and by disgruntled leaders Mubarak Gul and Nazir Gurezi. Gurezi, speaking afterwards, pushed back hard on the way the episode was covered. “We have been raising issues with the party. We sat at a place recently, and the media blew it out of proportion and claimed a split [in the party]. There is no separate party.”

He framed the dissent as a matter of party process rather than defiance. “We placed the issues, both political and others, before the leadership, and there are assurances they will be addressed in step-by-step approach.” That phrasing, step by step, appears to be the central promise coming out of the Srinagar meeting. Abdullah himself said some steps will be taken immediately and some slowly, without spelling out which is which.

The rebels were not operating without a blueprint. Ahead of the meeting, a 10-point memorandum was submitted to the party leadership. It called for a time-bound implementation of the election manifesto and an intensification of the struggle for the restoration of Statehood and special status. It also demanded cabinet restructuring and ministerial accountability, and the replacement of the adviser.

The memorandum went further than personnel changes. It advocated a consultative advisory group of legislators, which would give MLAs a formal voice in decision-making. It also called for the constitution of a high-powered disciplinary committee, a body that would have teeth to handle internal disputes and conduct questions inside the party.

Abdullah tied the internal debate back to the party’s core political identity. “Our struggle for Statehood, Article 370 and 35A will continue,” he said. By placing the rebels’ concerns inside the party’s long-running campaign for statehood and the restoration of special status, he signalled that the leadership wants to keep the dissent within the NC fold rather than let it harden into a separate camp.

What happens next will depend on how quickly the promised steps arrive. The immediate test will be whether the party moves on the adviser and the portfolio question, both of which were central to the rebels’ complaints. The cabinet restructuring and ministerial accountability demands in the memorandum are likely to be watched just as closely by legislators who remain unhappy after the October 27 reshuffle.

For now, the official line from the top is unity. Whether that holds will depend on the next round of decisions, and on whether the 17 legislators who forced this meeting see enough movement to stay quiet. The party has said the split talk is baseless. The coming weeks will show whether the grievances behind it have been addressed or only postponed.