``In his blind love for the BJP, Farooq Abdullah had consciously closed doors to all other political parties,'' Soz said. Soz, who is toying with the idea of launching a regional party in Jammu and Kashmir in the hope to emerging as a leader of the disgruntled National Conference partymen, said he had no regrets over his expulsion.

``I am being congratulated by such important leaders like Jyoti Basu, Madam Sonia Gandhi, Jayalalitha, and (Harkishen Singh) Surjeet that I have not time to think about the NC's move,'' Soz said.

He hopes to be greeted with a groundswell of support in Kashmir where he would go soon after the formation of a government

.The dissident NC leader says he supports the idea of the Congress taking a lead in forming thegovernment and not the Third Front. ``Congress has the second largest majority: why should they not form the government?'' he questions.

The NC leader, who had risen in the party which sees the Congress as its direct ideological rival in Kashmir, has suddenly started liking it.

``Congress is such a great party; there is a great deal of talent in the Congress, how can Abdullah afford to have no truck with a party which has prominent place in secular politics,'' he said.

Interestingly, the NC had been accusing the Congress leadership in Kashmir of collusion with the fundamentalist Jamait-e-Islami party and of hobnobbing with insurgents in its attempts to dislodge the Farooq Government. However Soz pleads ignorance of his former party's public stand on the issue.

Soz says he had made his difference of opinion on the party's support to the Vajpayee Government clear to Farooq a day prior to his defiance. Soz, it seems had supported the idea of NC members abstaining from voting on the confidencemotion.``Abdullah had a close mind. I don't know what weighed in his mind. He seemed to have no reason at all to back the BJP.''

After the expulsion news trickled in, Soz appeared in a reflective mood. Sources said despite his bravado, Soz was nervous about taking on Farooq. ``There are a lot of disgruntled people in NC, but Soz is not sure how many of them would join him,'' a Soz aide said.