J&K governor Narinder Nath Vohra calls PDP & BJP today

Polls likely if no govt is possible

Amid the deepening crisis and their 10-month-old alliance virtually coming to the edge, PDP and BJP leaders were closeted with their legislators and other key functionaries separately in J&K’s twin capitals Monday to decide their future course of action.

The meetings were prompted by governor N.N. Vohra asking both PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and BJP state unit chief Sat Pal Sharma to clarify by Tuesday evening whether they will form a government in the state again or not. Both Ms Mufti and Mr Sharma are due to meet the governor separately at Raj Bhavan in Jammu, the state’s winter capital, on Tuesday afternoon.

Most constitutional and legal experts say if the PDP and the BJP tell the governor that they are unable to form a new government and if he is satisfied none of the other political parties are in a position to fill the vacuum by providing a stable government, he may recommend the dissolution of the Assembly and holding of fresh elections.

He wants unambiguous answers from the PDP and BJP as he has to appoint advisers, which he has not done so far in the belief that Governor’s Rule, that was imposed in the state on January 8 after the death of chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and the failure of the PDP-BJP to form a new government immediately, would be a brief affair. If the alliance partners ask for more time, the governor is likely to go ahead with appointing advisers and may also bring in some changes in the bureaucratic structure to ensure the administration runs more smoothly.

The BJP is learnt to have indicated to the PDP that it will only go by the commitments of the common minimum programme which the two parties had agreed on when they entered the alliance, and will not come under any pressure. The BJP has also made it clear that its only agenda for the state is development and it is for Ms Mufti to take a call on continuing the roadmap laid by her late father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.

The PDP emerged the single largest party in the November-December 2014 elections to the 87-member Assembly after winning 28 seats. It cobbled up a coalition with the ideologically-divergent BJP, which has 25 seats, in March last year to form a government in the state. Owing to the death of its patron and chief minister Mufti Sayeed at New Delhi’s AIIMS on January 7, the PDP’s tally has come down to 27. Mr Sayeed represented the southern Anantnag constituency. Two other major parties, the National Conference and the Congress, have 15 and 12 members respectively. The remaining seats went to smaller parties or Independents.

Soon after the BJP core group, including MLAs, met in Jammu on Monday, a four-member delegation led by Mr Sharma rushed to New Delhi to meet top party leaders to explain the ground realities in the state. The meeting was held at the house of party general secretary Ashok Koul in Jammu’s Gandhi Nagar area after the governor virtually served an ultimatum over government formation and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti categorically said it would form a new government with its ally only if and when the latter assured it that her father Mufti Sayeed’s “vision” would be fulfilled.

The J&K BJP chief, Mr Sharma, said, however, that the PDP had not sent it any preconditions for government formation. He also said his party was not only committed to implementing the “Agenda of the Alliance”, but “it can also think and work beyond it”. BJP in-charge for J&K Avinash Rai Khanna reiterated that the PDP had to first elect its legislature party leader and show its cards.

A report from new Delhi said the BJP delegation — Mr Sharma, former deputy CM Nirmal Singh, MP Jugal Kishore and Shamsheer Singh Manhas — are likely to meet BJP president Amit Shah and general secretary Ram Madhav, who played a key role in forging the alliance with the PDP.

The PDP legislature party met here to discuss the issue and decided Ms Mufti will fly to Jammu Tuesday morning to meet the governor in the afternoon to explain her party’s viewpoint. “This was our first formal meeting that authorised Mehboobaji to place the party’s point of view before the governor, which she is doing tomorrow,” senior party leader and former education minister Naeem Akhtar told this newspaper. Earlier reports had said the meeting had been called to formally elect Ms Mufti as legislature party leader. “That didn’t happen, but she was authorised to convey to the governor the party’s point of view,” he said.

The PDP has already authorised Ms Mufti to take the final call on government formation. Mr Akhtar said: “We’ve not asked for anything new. There are no preconditions as such. All we want is: honest and faithful implementation of the ‘Agenda of the Alliance’.” Asked about Mr Khanna’s statement that the PDP should first elect its legislature party leader to show its cards, Mr Akhtar said: “That is their position.”

Both PDP and BJP received fax communications from the governor on Sunday evening for holding consultations with their leaders on government formation. Mr Sharma said a BJP delegation will also call on Mr Vohra Tuesday and “explain our position in the backdrop of the meeting we had in Jammu today and our consultations with the party high command in Delhi”.

The PDP has been saying the Agenda of the Alliance is a “sacred document” and wants its implementation on the ground in letter and spirit to ensure the state’s inclusive development. Ms Mufti told Sunday’s meeting Mr Sayeed died a sad man as “non-fulfilment” of the promises made to the people in past 10 months had “taxed him heavily”.

Former CM and National Conference working president Omar Abdullah said Monday the PDP and BJP cannot turn Jammu and Kashmir into a playground and said he appreciated the governor’s move asking the alliance partners to clear their stand on government formation. “Good. The state can’t be treated like a playground by these two parties,” he wrote on Twitter.