Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 20: It was on November 21 that former CM Mehbooba Mufti stated in Srinagar that her party had approached J&K Governor, Satya Pal Malik, to form coalition government in the state in alliance with Farooq Abdullah's NC and Rahul Gandhi's Congress party. It, then, appeared that she had played her cards very well and stumped the BJP. She and the NC and the Congress had claimed that they joined hands to "save the state and its special status" and defeat the moves of the BJP to capture the government through its ally Sajad Lone of Kashmir, who had only 2 members in the Assembly.
However, things in Kashmir have changed and the cards didn't favour Mehbooba Mufti's PDP. The reason: The Governor's Raj Bhawan, according to Mehbooba Mufti and even Sajad Lone, had a "non-functional" fax machine and the state Governor dissolved the Assembly. Things for the PDP have further worsened as its "alliance" partner, the NC, on December 19 inducted two former PDP legislators, Basharat Bukhari and Peer Mohd Hussain. It's a jolt not only for Mehbooba Mufti and her PDP but also for the so-called Grand Alliance that was formed on November 21.
Then, there was also the BJP factor to defeat the moves of Mehbooba Mufti, the NC and the Congress. It is too well known that the BJP poaches party leaders in a most brazen manner when it needs the required numbers, particularly in states where it's desperate to capture power. J&K is one such state. It was no wonder then that desperate Mehbooba Mufti had to write to national BJP president, Amit Shah, and ask Delhi to not "use its influence to split her party".
Now that President's Rule has been imposed on J&K after the expiry of the six-month-long Governor's Rule under Section 92 of the J&K Constitution, this has given the Centre (read the BJP-led Narendra Modi Government and the BJP itself) all the powers in the state and its affairs. And, this has further added to the woes of the PDP with its patron and former Deputy CM Muzzaffar Hussain Baig on Wednesday openly saying that the PDP might not win the number of seats it won in 2014.
In 2014, the PDP had won the maximum number of seats and emerged as the single largest party in the state. It had won 28 seats, BJP 25, the NC 15, the Congress 12, the PC 2 and the CPI-M one. The remaining 4 seats had been won by independent candidates, one each in Jammu and Ladakh and 2 in Kashmir. |
