NEW DELHI, July 18 — Performing the anticipated balancing act on the autonomy issue, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, today said that he wanted a dialogue without any pre-conditions, parameters and time-frame.

The Chief Minister, who met the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, this morning, said that all points in the autonomy report would be gradually discussed. “We will see what is possible and what is not”, he said.

Dr Abdullah also ruled out the National Conference quitting the BJP-led NDA government. “This was never in question and it was the media which linked the two things together,” the Chief Minister said.

The tension between the NDA and the NC was defused at the initiative of Mr Vajpayee, who had invited Dr Abdullah for talks. After a one-to-one session between Mr Vajpayee and Dr Abdullah last night, the latter again called on the Prime Minister in the forenoon.

It is apparent that Dr Abdullah wants to keep a dialogue going on the highly emotive autonomy issue so that he does not get marginalised in the event of the Centre holding talks with the All-Party Hurriyat Conference. It is after a gap of four years since he regained power in Jammu and Kashmir that Dr Abdullah has focussed attention on the autonomy issue, a pledge that he had made during the 1996 assembly elections.

During his second meeting with Mr Vajpayee, Dr Abdullah was accompanied by his senior ministerial and party colleagues who had come here from Srinagar. His discussion with Mr Advani was also a one-to-one affair without any aides.

It became evident after last night’s meeting that Mr Vajpayee and Dr Abdullah would nominate their teams to hold intense discussions on the issue of autonomy and devolving greater powers to the states.

After the second round of talks with the Prime Minister, Dr Abdullah told mediapersons that the four-member team present with him in Delhi would form the core team that would hold discussions with the Centre. The Prime Minister, on the other hand, had not shown his cards so far as to who would be given the brief to hold the discussions on behalf of the Centre.

Dr Abdullah’s current stand marked a significant departure from the past that there could be no compromise on the autonomy issue. Despite the hawks in the National Conference, Dr Abdullah has managed to hold sway that he was not averse to discussing the autonomy issue within the parameters of the 1975 accord. The state Law Minister, Mr P.L. Handoo had given indications to this effect during his recent visit to New Delhi. He had also clarified that the NC was never adamant on the pre-1953 status. “Why 1953.... it could be 1960 or 1975...this issue can only be settled during talks between the state and Central representatives,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, in a bid to evolve a national consensus over the issue of autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress announced the formation of a sub-committee after Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah today met party President Sonia Gandhi and briefed her about recent developments on the issue.