Devender Singh Rana, a businessman who was extremely close to former chief minister Omar Abdullah as the latter chose him as his advisor with cabinet rank reflecting their proximity and confidence they cherished through this camaraderie. Rana was at the driving seat for six years of Omar’s tenure and took care of the administrative issues while his boss heavily relied on him in the CM's secretariat. As a crisis manager, Rana left no stone unturned to keep Omar in power as chief minister by portraying him as young CM who was there to bring succor to youth problems and this was done through his personal relations with major media outlets in Kashmir and Jammu. However, his role somehow dwindled when Kashmir was hit by street violence in the wake of Shopian killings in 2009 followed by 2010 killings when Omar almost resigned but was prevented by his father Farooq Abdullah who was then Union Minister. His exit from National Conference is seen as the biggest setback to the regional party which provided him a platform and position to bargain with the Centre’s ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party, which has his brother Dr Jitendra Singh holding key status as minister in PMO. The National Conference has a tradition of retaining cadres and its leaders no matter when there were crises in other parties like People’s Democratic Party or Congress. The entire top leadership of PDP joined Apni Party leaving President Mehbooba Mufti with few senior members and fresh faces in the party. The oldest regional party still holds key politicians from Kashmir even if they had differences with Abdullahs but remained loyal at the times of crisis. The rant of Rana to speak for Jammu alone has not gone well in Kashmir since no politician from any party in valley has given vent to play regional card while discarding his parent party. The politics for Jammu alone is going to impact the political scenario as Kashmir may also see similar politicking on lines of Rana and those spearheading movements in the name of Dogra legacy. Rana’s resignation was accepted without any hassle indicating that NC leadership had made up their mind to see his exit. Insiders do attribute Rana’s indifference to party position in the aftermath of August 5, 2019 and delegation level move from Jammu to Abdullahs’ residence as the main reason for his difference with his mentors which never was resolved while Rana sensed their mood slowly started posturing and toeing the line of BJP in Jammu. Both Rana and SS Salathia dominated Jammu politics as NC key men and cabinet ministers and are now part of the ruling party at the Centre. Rana did meet Abdullahs in a last ditch effort at their Srinagar residence but it failed to materialize as he formally along with Salathia joined their once bête noire. Even political grapevine is rife with floating theories about him playing a positive role in NC-BJP bonhomie for ruling politics in Jammu and Kashmir with BJP eyeing for long to have its chief minister from Jammu while Kashmir struggling to see its space given due representation in near future.