SRINAGAR: Against the backdrop of the continuing political uncertainty over government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, Governor N N Vohra on Friday invited the two largest parties in the state Assembly -- the PDP and the BJP -- for finding a way out of the impasse.
Sources said the Governor on Friday evening invited PDP president Mehbooba Mufti to discuss the proposal for government formation. “The Governor has also sent a separate invitation to state BJP chief Jugal Kishore for discussion on government formation in the state, where people have given a fractured mandate, leading to a hung Assembly”, they said.
Both the PDP and the BJP have confirmed that they have received the invite from the Governor.
Separately, the BJP has already started discussions with the PDP. BJP vice-president and general secretary Ram Madhav met PDP leader and Muzaffar Hussain Baig MP at a local hotel here. “We met different parties here to discuss government formation. We listened to their views and exchanged our own views,” Madhav told reporters here before leaving for New Delhi. He said no final decision had been reached so far.”
On talks with Baig on Thursday, Madhav said that the talks were still in its initial stages. “The PDP has emerged as an important stakeholder and got a major mandate. PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has a five-decade long political career and is a respected politician. He is not only respected in the state but across the country,” he said.
He said he would brief party central leadership on his deliberations with the political leaders in the state.
PDP national spokesman Sameer Koul said that the party is trying to evolve consensus a within its ranks over the options available to it. “ Party members have different opinions on the options-- whether to align with the BJP, the Congress or the NC,” he said.
There were reports that Mufti may visit New Delhi for a meeting with PM Narendra Modi. However, BJP MP and J&K incharge Avinash Khanna told Express that no meeting had been scheduled between Modi and Mufti.
In a related development, independent legislator and MLA from Langate Engineer Abdul Rashid told media persons on Thursday that he was in contact with two other independent legislators of the Valley -- Hakeem Yaseen and Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami (CPM)-- and the trio will support secular and non-BJP coalition alliance in the state. “I will not be part of any dispensation in the state of which the right-wing BJP, which has an anti-Kashmir agenda, is part of,” he said. Rashid urged the NC and the PDP to forge an alliance in the “interest of Kashmir” and for keeping the BJP at bay.
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