SRINAGAR: After the Delhi Assembly elections and J&K Rajya Sabha polls, the BJP and the PDP are all set to resume dialogue on government formation in the state.
“We were waiting for the Delhi elections and the RS polls in the state. Now that both the elections have ended, structured dialogue on government formation between the parties will begin this week. It can even begin tomorrow,” a senior J&K BJP leader said.
He said some headway has been made in the informal talks after the results of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections were declared.
The BJP leader said once the parleys on government formation with the PDP began, a consensus on the contentious issues, such as Article 370, AFSPA, Settlement of West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs), would be arrived at.
He said the party’s general secretary Ram Madhav would lead the saffron party’s talks with the PDP.
“A few state party leaders would also be a part of the talks committee that would be headed by Ram Madhav. Ram Madhav and top state party leaders have already held discussions with BJP president Amit Shah in New Delhi and finalised the strategy for the talks,” the BJP leader said.
He expressed hope that the BJP-PDP coalition government based on a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) would be formed in the State soon, thus ending the Governor’s rule in the state, which was imposed in J&K on January 8 after Omar Abdullah refused to continue as caretaker Chief Minister and no party was able to cobble up an alliance to form the government in the state.
The PDP with 28 seats has emerged the single largest party in the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, elections for which were held in November-December.
The BJP with 25 seats is close second, while the National Conference and the Congress won 15 and 12 seats respectively. The smaller parties and independents won seven seats.
The PDP leader, who is expected to represent the party in government formation talks, said the process would begin this week.
He said both the parties had made their stands on key issues clear in the talks held so far.
“And during the formal talks, the party leaders with a mandate of their respective parties will attempt to hammer out a solution to the contentious issue and arrive at a consensus on a CMP, the main focus of which would be development.”