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| Alliance with Sajad will hurt BJP | | Assembly polls | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 9: BJP is a divided house. Some in BJP want the party high command to "stitch pre-poll alliance with People's Conference (PC) of Sajad Lone so that the party could win some seats in Kashmir Valley and form next government in the state in alliance with Lone". They are, according to insiders, led by "BJP national general secretary and in-charge J&K Ram Madhav". They are of the view that "Sajad Lone has become a power to recknon with in Kashmir and he can this win a respectable number of seats in the Kashmir Valley". Kashmir elects 46 members to the J&K Legislative Assembly. In 2014, Lone had won two seats and became minister in the Mufti government out of the BJP quota.
The calculation of those who favour alliance with Sajad Lone is simple. They can't have any truck with National Conference of Abdullahs and Peoples Democratic Party of Mehbooba Mufti. These two parties also can't afford to align with the BJP at this point in time. So to come to power in the state BJP is left with the only option of supporting Sajjad Lone and help him win maximum seats to fill the gap.
On its own BJP too will have to better its tally and cross 30 seats to take a shot at government formation in the state. Now, it looks easier said than done as BJP's own image has been dented in the Jammu region and Ladakh and it is facing an uphill task to come up to the expectations of the electorate in both these regions.
There are others in the BJP who want the party to go alone. Their argument is that "to forge an alliance with any political party in Kashmir, including the NC, the PDP and the PC, would be to mar its poll prospects in Jammu and Ladakh". They tell their party bosses that "Sajad Lone is no different from the Abdullahs and Mufti and that his views on the state's special status are no different". They do make a point.
Sajad Lone is votary of autonomy. His statement that Congress has trampled on the autonomy either alone or while sharing power with the NC and the PDP and that he (Lone) would come out with a "White Paper highlighting the Congress' negative role in the erosion of the state's autonomy in 10 days if he was voted to power" have all made the critics of Lone in the BJP to think that "an alliance with him before elections would mean the negation of what the party high command did on June 19, 2018". On June 19, the BJP withdrew support to the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government and as a result, the state was brought under the direct rule of Governor Satya Pal Malik.
It would become clear in the next few days which of the two groups in the BJP carries conviction with the party high command. Things would become clear after the Election Commission announced the election schedule for J&K, which has been under President's rule since December. |
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