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| Parties gearing up for mid-term polls | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 23 : The deadlock between the PDP and the BJP over the government formation or the reluctance of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti to take over as Chief Minister of the state at this point in time has created peculiar situation in J&K.
It is not the BJP which is creating any obstacle in the way of government formation. It is ready to re-stitch alliance with the PDP, as it wants to become a part of the government at any cost. It is the PDP that is taking its own time. It wants an assurance from the Prime Minister that the PDP, if formed government with the BJP in J&K, shall be allowed a freehand to not only manage the affairs of the state but also to decide the political future of the state.
That the PDP leadership didn't give any credence to the assurances given by Union Surface and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and BJP national general secretary and in-charge J&K Ram Madhav that the BJP will help the PDP take forward the late Mufti Sayeed's agenda only indicates the level of distrust or mistrust between the PDP and the BJP. And reports from Fairview residence of Mehbooba Mufti clearly suggest that she was not in a hurry and that she is even prepared for mid-term polls.
A hint to this effect was given by former minister and party's spokesperson Naeem Akhtar on Thursday when he didn't reject the possibility of the state going in for mid-term polls. When asked if there was a possibility of mid-term polls in the state, Akhtar said: "I am not ruling out or ruling in anything".
And on Friday, Mehbooba Mufti also gave a similar hint in her own typical style. She, in fact, asked the party leaders to organize worker conventions at the district headquarters and prepare themselves for launching party's membership drive from January 31. This was the time to discuss government formation and ending the Governor's rule in the state, but the party instead gave everyone to understand that the possibility of the state witnessing mid-term polls could not be overruled.
The BJP on Friday also took the same line and asserted that the BJP would win more seats if the mid-term polls are held and that the BJP is fully prepared for an electoral exercise. Talking to a Kashmir-based daily, BJP General Secretary (organisation), Ashok Koul said that the BJP was not afraid of mid-term polls. "If mid-term polls are held, we'll fight. We are prepared. The performance of 10-month PDP-BJP government headed by the Mufti Sayeed would not impact the party's prospects. We will do better than what we did in 2014 Legislative Assembly polls. We will double our seat tally," he was quoted as saying.
As far as other major players in the state are concerned, they too have said that they were prepared for mid-term polls. The National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, working president Omar Abdullah and general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar have all asked the PDP leadership to end political uncertainty in the state by forming government with the BJP or pave way for fresh elections so that the people could elect a new assembly and a new government. The Panthers Party has even approached the State Governor for the same and urged him to dissolve the assembly and make arrangements for fresh elections. The Panthers Party has also held a protest demonstration to register its point of view.
The Congress on Friday also said that it would do well if the mid-term polls are held in the state.
"The Congress too is ready for the mid-term polls but first wants the parties creating an environment of political uncertainty in the State to take responsibility for it. Elections aren't an easy exercise," JKPCC chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir was quoted as saying on Friday. He also added that "the party would recover" the lost political space. "When it is time for participating in polls, the Congress has always been a front-runner and never ran away from the democratic process. Political parties having round-the-clock preparations for polls even in power, sometimes for local bodies' polls other times for Lok Sabha ad Legislative Assembly polls and when there are no polls, parties are still preparing for bi-polls," Mir further reportedly said.
The moral of the story is that all the major political players in the state have started gearing up for fresh elections. But more than that, the moral of the story is that the PDP and the BJP have still to walk several miles to iron out their differences and the path is not so smooth. The Friday statement of BJP national vice-president and Prabhari J&K Avinash Rai Khanna that "they (BJP) have not received any communiqué from its coalition partner (PDP) so far" should explain many things. |
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