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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Azad faces puzzle to save majority
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad braces to prove his majority in the 87-member state legislative assembly on Monday.
- IANS
- Published: 23:14 July 5, 2008
Srinagar: As Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad braces to prove his majority in the 87-member state legislative assembly here on Monday, political circles are agog with possibilities for and against the Congress-led state government, with dissidents from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) holding the key to its survival.
The Congress has 21 legislators, plus the support of 15 independent members. That leaves it eight short of the 44 votes it needs to win the trust vote.
The two Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) legislators may vote for the government, since the Left have not yet decided to withdraw support from the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the centre.
Even if the two CPI-M legislators vote for him, Azad will be six short of 44. Ranged against the government are the National Conference with 24 legislators, the PDP with 17, the Panthers Party with four, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Jammu Mukhti Morcha with one each, and one independent legislator, Shahjahan Dar, who is likely to vote with the PDP.
Manjeet Singh, the lone BSP member, has already declared his support to the PDP while Jugal Kishore of the BJP and the four Panthers Party legislators have demanded imposition of governor's rule in the state.
The crisis in the government was precipitated when the PDP walked out of the ruling coalition last week. Now it is the PDP dissidents who hold the key to the government's survival.
No support
National Conference president Omar Abdullah and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti have made it clear their parties would issue a whip to their legislators to remain present in the assembly and vote against the Congress government when Azad must prove his majority as per the directive of Governor N.N. Vohra.
Two PDP dissident legislators, Ghulam Hassan Mir and Sarfraz Khan, may vote for the government. Plus, the Congress hopes to have more PDP dissident members voting in its favour and thus save the government.
The answer to the arithmetical riddle would only be known tomorrow when the blocks of this jigsaw puzzle fall into place.
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