Srinagar: Former chief minister and National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah said here on Tuesday that the BJP’s decision to pull out of the Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government did not surprise him but the timing chosen for it has.
“I’m not surprised by the decision though I must admit the timing has taken me by surprise. I was expecting this coalition to fall apart but I had expected this will happen little later in the year. I was not expecting it to happen quite so soon,” he told reporters here.
Asked what could be the reason for the BJP’s move, he said, “I can’t speak for the BJP. It is only the BJP which can answer this question for you as to what compelled it to pull out of the government”.
He said that during the past one and a half months, Jammu and Kashmir has seen “marked with significant deterioration” in the situation which could be one of the reasons for the BJP’s decision. “Beyond that I don’t want to speculate what was the reason for the BJP to pull out of the government,’ he said.
Replying a question, Mr. Abdullah said that he can’t say if the PDP has been embarrassed or not by its alliance partner’s sudden move. “Clearly if we were called by surprise, so were they. I don’t expect the BJP would have taken us into confidence but I think it is little unfortunate that they worked together with the PDP for over three years and, the least, they could have done was to take the PDP into confidence about their decision. But different parties function differently, so be it”.
He said that it would have been great had Ms Mufti resigned the moment the BJP high-command summoned its minister to Delhi on Monday. “For the last more than one year, I have been telling Mehbooba Mufti that, for God sake, please go. At this point in time, as being a former Chief Minister myself and personally speaking, I wish she had gone with some dignity. I wish she had chosen to go rather than being shunted out like this. But she chose not to. She chose to be dismissed rather than leaving with some dignity being intact. But it is she who has to live with it, not me,” he said.
