Gov dissolves J&K House as PDP, NC and Cong stake claim

Srinagar: Amid a high-voltage political drama between warring factions of Jammu and Kashmir’s mainstre-am political arena, governor Satyapal Malik dissolved the state Assembly on Wednesday evening.

“By virtue of powers vested upon me in terms of Proclamation No. P-1/18 of 2018 dated 20th June 2018 issued under sub-section (1) of section 92 and in exercise of the powers conferred upon me by clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 53 of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, I hereby dissolve the Legislative Assembly,” said an order by the governor.

Earlier, former CM and Peoples’ Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti had written a letter to the governor informing him that the National Conference, with 15 members, and the Congress, with 12 members in the Assembly, had decided to extend their support to her party to form a government in the state.

Peoples’ Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone also wrote a similar letter to the governor staking claim to government formation. He informed the governor that he enjoys the support of the BJP legislature party, with 25 members, and 18 other elected members of the House.

Ms Mufti’s letter read: “As you are aware, the Peoples’ Democratic Party is the largest party in the Assembly, having a strength of 29. You might have gathered from media reports that the Congress and the National Conference have also decided to extend support to our party to form a government in the state. That takes our collective strength to 56.

“Since I am presently in Srinagar, it would not be possible for me to call on you immediately and this is to keep you informed that we would be seeking your convenience shortly to stake claim for forming the government in the state.”

Ms Mufti said in a tweet that she was trying to send this letter to Raj Bhavan in Jammu. “Strangely the fax is not received. Tried to contact HE Governor on phone. Not available. Hope you see it @jandkgovernor”, she wrote on Twitter. In another tweet, she said: “Sending the letter also by mail”.

Mr Lone, staking his claim to form the government, tweeted that since the facsimile at Raj Bhavan was not working, he has WhatsApped the letter to the governor through his personal assistant Jevan Lal. He said: “We have sent a letter to His Excellency the Governor staking our claim to form the government. Fax not working. We have WhatsApped it to the PA to His Excellency”.

Shortly before Mr Lone’s staking claim, PDP rebel leader Imran Raza Ansari claimed 16 party MLAs were with him. He said that therefore Ms Mufti could not count them while staking her claim.

National Conference vice-president and former CM Omar Abdullah tweeted: “JKNC has been pressing for Assembly dissolution for 5 months now. It can’t be a coincidence that within minutes of Mehbooba Mufti Sahiba letter staking claim the order to dissolve the Assembly suddenly appears”. In another tweet. he said: “J&K Raj Bhavan needs a new fax machine urgently.”

These developments followed reports that the NC, PDP and Congress were inching towards cobbling up an alliance to form the government in the state. The BJP, while reacting strongly to these reports, alleged that these parties were forging an alliance to form a government “at the behest of Pakistan” and that the party would not allow it. The saffron party had urged governor Satyapal Malik to stall the move.

“These parties are coming together to form a government on the directions of Pakistan just to keep the BJP away”, former deputy CM and senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta said at a hurriedly-called press conference in Jammu. He alleged that the decision to form a government was taken after meetings in Dubai and London. He urged the governor to stop any attempt at government formation, asserting that “they (PDP, NC and Congress) were trying things through the backdoor and it is not acceptable”.

All the three parties — Congress, NC and PDP — had earlier in the day confirmed that they were inching towards an agreement to form a government in the state before the expiry of six months of Governor’s Rule next month.

Jammu and Kashmir was placed under Governor’s Rule on June 20, a day after the PDP-BJP coalition fell apart, bringing their two-year-old coalition government down. Since no political party had staked claim to forming a new government after the collapse of the PDP-BJP coalition, then governor N.N. Vohra, after taking over, put the Assembly under suspended animation.

Governor’s Rule is imposed in J&K for six months under Section 92 of its constitution, but only after the consent of the President of India. In all other states, President’s Rule is imposed under Article 356 of the Constitution of India. But since J&K has a separate constitution and regulations specific to it, the government’s failure results in Governor’s Rule and not President’s Rule as is the case in other states. In J&K, Governor’s Rule is replaced by President’s Rule after the six-month period ends.

No major political party was until recently showing any interest in forming a government in the state as none had a majority in the 87-member House. But on Wednesday two major regional parties — NC and PDP — which like Congress had been discouraged by the circumstances and, more important, the situation on the ground to make any attempt to cobble up an alliance for government formation, had said they were engaged in a serious effort to form the government.

The NC said it was open to supporting government formation with the PDP and the Congress. “It has become necessary, rather obligatory, for the regional parties to join hands to keep communal forces at bay in the interest of the state and its people in view of the challenges it is faced with today,” said the party’s senior leader Nasir Aslam Wani. He added that the party would hold threadbare discussions on the issue once its president Farooq Abdullah, who was outside the state, returned to Srinagar. “The meetings will decide whether we should join the government or provide it outside support,” he had said.

PDP’s senior leader and former finance minister Syed Altaf Bukhari had said people in the state would soon get “good news” as the PDP, NC and Congress had decided to join hands to form the government. “There is progress [in the talks] among the three parties. Keeping in view the political situation and special status of the state, the three parties have decided to join hands,” he had said in an interview here. “Article 370 and Article 35A are our main issues. All this is being done to safeguard them,” he asserted. He added that the announcement on the talks and the alliance would be shared with the people soon.