Srinagar:Even though hectic political activities are going on, so far no break-through has been achieved in government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, where no political party has reached the magic number 44 in the 87-member 12th Assembly.
However, not much opti-ons are left with the political parties which otherwise have to make compromises on some of the issues raised by them during campaig-ning in case they want to join the coalition government in the state, where People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has emerged as the single largest party with 28 seats followed by Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) 25, National Conference (NC) 15 and Congress 12.
After the NC has made it clear that it will not join or support the BJP in govern-ment formation in the state, the only option left is PDP-BJP or PDP-Congress with support from independents and others. Surprisingly, the NC has offered to support PDP to form the government in the state provided PDP’s Mufti Mohammad Sayeed approa-ched him. On the other hand, PDP wanted some-thing concrete from the NC which could be con-sidered by the Parliamentary board of the party before taking any final decision.
NC working president Omar Abdullah had recently said he was ready to support PDP provided Mr Sayeed contacted him. However, a senior PDP leader and MLA from Amira Kadal consti-tuency Syed Altaf Bukhari said they had heard Mr Abdullah’s statement only on television channels. “Until we get anything concrete from the NC and later discussed that in the Parliamentary board mee-ting nothing can be said,” he added.
As NC-BJP alliance is ruled out for the time being after both the parties rejected media reports about any meeting between the leaders of two parties, the saffron party is now exploring other options, including joining with PDP to provide a stable government in the state.
Immediately, after senior PDP leader and former deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig said BJP-PDP should talk about government formation, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav rushed here and reportedly held two rounds of talks with Mr Baig last night.
What transpired between them was not immediately known. But, sources said the issue of Article 370, Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and any change in the State Subject law were a few hurdles in reaching out to an immediate agreement in government forma-tion.(UNI)
