By F. Ahmed,

Srinagar, Sep 1 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's political acumen is being tested as clouds of uncertainty loom large over his Congress party's alliance with the People's Democratic Party (PDP).

The tension between the alliance partners came to the fore this week when the chief minister expanded and reshuffled the cabinet.

The PDP urged Azad to divest Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig, known to be closer to the chief minister then the party leadership, of his high-profile portfolios of finance, planning and development, but the request was ignored.

The regional party was then left with little option but to recall Baig from the cabinet.

"In the normal course of events, the chief minister should have gone by our advice. Instead, he decided to ignore us totally by keeping Baig's previous portfolios intact," said a senior PDP legislator here.

"In order to maintain the party discipline, we asked Baig to resign from the council of ministers which he refused to do. We were left with no option, but to recall Baig Sahib," the PDP leader said.

Some PDP leaders, who do not want to be named, go the extent of accusing Azad of deliberately rocking the alliance boat so that the PDP is forced to withdraw from of the present arrangement.

In the last state elections in 2002, the National Conference (NC) won only 27 seats in the 87-member assembly, as the Congress (20) and the PDP (16) joined hands to form government. Under their arrangement, PDP patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was chief minister till November 2005 after which Azad took over.

"Let us not ignore the fact that Azad Sahib has very close relations with the NC patron Dr. Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah. At times, he has been treating the PDP as the opposition and the NC as his true ally," said another senior PDP leader.

Congress leaders in the state were tight-lipped while Azad, on a daylong visit of Ladakh region, was yet to react on the PDP legislature party's resolution of Thursday evening, demanding that Baig be replaced by Agriculture Minister Abdul Aziz Zargar.

NC president Omar Abdullah, however, refused to divulge his party's strategy.

"We are at the moment watching the situation very closely. I cannot make any comment at present as to what course my party would adopt if the present ruling alliance were to collapse," he said.

However, political observers here say that if the Congress-DPD alliance reaches a point of no return, the NC would be more than willing to support Azad's government from outside.

"It is clear that Azad can comfortably continue as chief minister with the outside support from the NC. But, can the Congress afford to change horses midway? What signal would they be sending out by aligning with the PDP today and with the NC tomorrow? I don't think it is going to be that simple," said a political analyst here.

The chief minister would have to make up his mind quickly on whether supporting Baig's continuance in the ministry is worth risking the future of the present political arrangement.

"After all, Azad was sent here to strengthen the mainstream forces and not to poach on the flock of his allies," said another PDP leader here.