Srinagar, July 24 -- : With the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference government in its 10th month, the parties especially the ruling NC and Congress have raised a pitch for J&K's statehood for the past couple of weeks. The coalition partners, however, have adopted different paths instead of fighting for statehood restoration jointly. While Congress has already begun a series of protests for statehood, the NC is also now raising statehood issues more frequently at all levels and many leaders are now suggesting the party explore legal options in case the centre doesn't keep its promise. Though NC and Congress contested assembly elections as coalition partners, the Congress stayed out of power saying that unless statehood is restored they won't become part of the government. Omar Abdullah had adopted a reconciliatory approach with the Centre with a hope of statehood restoration, however, NC is getting apprehensive and many leaders suggest the party explore legal options. "Our protests for statehood restoration will continue till we get it. It's our right and we will use everything to get it back," said Congress legislator and CWC worker, Ghulam Ahmad Mir. He, however, played down the issue of why NC wasn't part of their protest campaign. Congress on Tuesday held protest demonstration at Jantar Mantar, besides Congress leaders and workers from Jammu and Kashmir, Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, AICC in-charge of J&K Naseer Hussain and J&K Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra and some Congress MPs took part in the protest. No NC leader was part of the protests, earlier also Congress alone held protests in Srinagar and Jammu. Jammu and Kashmir National Conference spokesman and legislator Tanvir Sadiq said the Congress held a protest demanding statehood without discussing it with the NC, even though both parties are allies. "Our party had earlier led a joint campaign for statehood with all parties on board," he said. On Tuesday J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah also said that Congress should have taken NC on board over this issue. "Even during the meeting of the INDI Alliance, they (Congress) didn't discuss the issue of protest on statehood. Had they discussed it, we would have participated," he told reporters in Hajin Bandipora. "We were first to introduce a resolution in the cabinet for statehood restoration. If they (Congress) would have discussed with us our leaders could have been part of this protest," he said. Earlier, NC president and former J&K chief minister, Farooq Abdullah said that NC can even opt for legal options."We are hopeful that centre will restore statehood but legal options could be explored," he had said earlier. Even a section of leaders within NC had asked its leadership to adopt a more aggressive posture for restoration of statehood. Senior PDP leader Zuhaib Yusuf Mir blamed NC leadership for outsourcing the demand for statehood restoration....