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| Talks on govt formation on | | PDP crumbling | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, July 9: Notwithstanding the fact that 21 PDP MLAs on Sunday met with party chief and former CM Mehbooba Mufti at her Gupkar Road official residence and committed their support to her, the fact remains that talks on the government formation are still on. So much so, "details have emerged of negotiations for formation of a new government in Jammu & Kashmir between the BJP, ally Sajad Lone's Peoples Conference and PDP rebels". The only hurdle is who gets the chief minister's post.
Sources in the BJP reportedly said: "The BJP is willing to concede any demand or ministry but is adamant on the CM's post. They see this a rare opportunity to get their own CM". The sources quoting "top PDP rebels", who held meetings with BJP leaders in Delhi last week, however said: "They were not willing to concede the office of CM to the BJP. At some point in the future, Jammu & Kashmir may have a chief minister from the BJP, but this is not the time for it". Senior PDP leaders have claimed that "21 of their 28 MLAs could walk away to ally with the BJP, if they can be assured of being in power for the remaining two-and-a-half years of the current Assembly".
"There is little they could do," the PDP leaders were quoted as saying. "If the Centre wants a new government, everything is irrelevant, especially when our legislators know that people are angry with them and militants are out to kill them," a PDP leader reportedly said, adding that "it is a matter of life and death, and they can't afford to annoy New Delhi too". As per reports from New Delhi, "While the name of Jammu-based minister in the Union Government has emerged as a likely CM candidate from the BJP side, the other side is batting for Sajjad Lone, also an ally of the BJP". Lone was a Cabinet Minister in the Mehbooba Mufti Government out of the BJP quota.
Sources said: "The Peoples Conference, which has two MLAs in the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly, has rallied behind PDP legislators who are willing to ally with the BJP for a share in the spoils of power. Informally labelled 'Northern Alliance', as it was initiated by leaders from northern Kashmir, this group is banking on the fact that a large number of disgruntled PDP MLAs feel the party has lost its bastion of South Kashmir for now".
However, in an interview to India TV broadcast on Saturday, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said: "If Delhi intervenes and breaks our party and makes Sajad Ghani Lone or whosoever chief minister, it will erode the trust of Kashmiris in Indian democracy. Any intervention from Delhi will be taken seriously."
Jammu & Kashmir is the only Muslim-majority state in India with 40 per cent non-Muslim population. It holds special significance for the BJP going to the general elections in 2019. The BJP was in power for the first time in the state as part of the coalition with the PDP, which collapsed fell on June 19 following withdrawal of support by the BJP high command to the Mehbooba Mufti government. |
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