BJP leaders meet JK governor

New Delhi: A delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday called on Jammu and Kashmir governor N.N. Vohra and sought more time to explore the possibility of forming a new government in the state.

Jammu and Kashmir elected a hung assembly and no political party has thus far staked claim to form the government, nearly two weeks after the results were declared, prompting Vohra to invite leaders of the two largest parties.

While the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti called on the government on December 31, BJP leaders led by its state unit president Jugal Kishore met Vohra on Thursday in the state’s winter capital Jammu.

The BJP leaders, while seeking more time from the governor, also informed him that behind the scene talks were on with other parties to explore the possibility of forming the new government.

India’s northernmost state will automatically come under the President’s Rule is no government is formed by January 19, the last day of the outgoing assembly.

“BJP is in no rush to form government. We want to ensure that the government that is formed is stable and works for the development of the state,” Jugal Kishore said after meeting the governor.

BJP is yet to elect its legislative party leader, though the legislative party held a meeting after results were announced merely to authorise party president Amit Shah to decide on the crucial issue of forming the government.

BJP had finished a close second behind the PDP by bagging 25 seats in the 87-member assembly, while PDP won 28.

Both BJP and PDP had their chances to form the government by cobbling up support from other parties, they have so far used restraint un the name of stability.

PDP had offers of support from the National Conference (15 seats) and the Congress party (12) — enough to cross the half way mark, but it was reluctant to do business with its political arch-rival National Conference.

Similarly, the outgoing Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, who heads the National Conference, had offered his party’s support to BJP chief Amit Shah verbally when they met in New Delhi on Christmas Day, BJP continues to contemplate its options, though four of the six independents and two-member People Conference had also offered their support to BJP.

Top leaders of both PDP and BJP are coming around to realise that they can work for the development of the state only when a stable government is in place, which is not possible by aligning with several smaller parties.

In a way, the two largest parties have the indirect mandate. While PDP won majority of its seats in Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, BJP won all its seats in the Hindu-majority Jammu region. Also, if PDB won the highest number of seats in the hung assembly, BJP polled the maximum votes in terms of percentage.

Coming together of PDP and BJP is logical also considering PDP has no Hindu lawmaker in its ranks, compared to BJP which has one Muslim lawmaker but he is not from the Kashmir Valley.

Mehbooba Mufti dropped broad signals on Wednesday that PDP is ready to join hands with the BJP when she said her party had the support of 55 lawmakers and invoked former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s vision for all-round development of the state. Vajpayee who headed a coalition government belonged to the BJP.

Informed sources in the BJP claim that it is only the matter of who winks first. While PDP originally wanted entire six years tenure for its founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as the chief minister, it has come around to agree to share the post for three years each in backchannel talks with Mufti heading the government for the first three years.