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| Will PDP join NDA to remain in the centre stage? | | |
Neha
JAMMU, May 13: Will the PDP, which could, according to exit polls, win two seats in Jammu and Kashmir, join the likely victorious BJP-led NDA? The possibility cannot be overruled. The PDP could become part of the NDA. It appears. The reason is that the PDP leaders, including the party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and his daughter and party president Mehbooba Mufti, unlike NC president Farooq Abdullah and his son and party president and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, didn't even once criticize the BJP and its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. On the contrary, both on occasions used a very soft language for the BJP. They praised Atal Behari Vajpayee and BJP-led NDA Government several times during the election campaign - an approach that was taken by the NC and the Congress to mean a sort of understanding between the PDP and the BJP. In fact, the Abdullahs used it to the hilt to lower the position of the PDP in the eyes of the people of Kashmir.
It is important to note that the NC and the Congress leadership contested the just-held Lok Sabha elections in the state on three main planks - autonomy, Narendra Modi and the Muftis. A vote for the PDP in Kashmir would mean a vote against Kashmir, as also a vote for the BJP and Narendra Modi and a vote for the NC would mean a vote for Kashmir and its autonomy was the NC's slogan. Another slogan of the NC in Kashmir was that a vote for the PDP would mean a vote for the erosion of the state's autonomous and special status. As for the Congress, its slogan in Kashmir Valley was that a vote for the NC would mean a vote for Kashmir and secularism and a vote for the PDP a vote against Kashmir and against secularism. The Congress also contested the election in Jammu province on the plank of "secularism".
As pointed out, there is the possibility of the PDP joining the NDA. However, there would be people who could ask how could the pro-self-rule PDP join the anti-Article 370 BJP? The answer is simple and straight and the answer is that if the pro-autonomy NC could join the BJP-led NDA and the BJP-led NDA Government, why can't the PDP do the same? There are reports to the effect that certain important elements are in touch with the PDP leadership and these reports have not been contested till date by any of the top-ranking PDP leaders. Alliance with the NDA would be advantageous for the PDP, as it would enable the Muftis to expand further their support-base in the Valley and capture the state power in January 2015. The leadership of the PDP is quite shrewd. It knows how to conduct itself. Besides, it also knows that the people of the state didn't vote for autonomy or any such thing; they voted for those who talked about development and governance. Things would become clear sooner than later, as the process of Government formation at the Centre would start this week itself. |
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