Srinagar: A week after Jammu and Kashmir delivered a fractured mandate, there is still no clarity over who will form the next government in the state. People's Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti is scheduled to meet Governor NN Vohra on Wednesday to discuss the formation of the government.
The meeting comes after Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ram Madhav and state unit President Jugal Kishore met the Governor on Tuesday. Demanding that the next chief minister should be from BJP, he said, "We have authorised party president Amit Shah to take a decision. The decision will be taken after consultation with the state unit of the party and we maintain that the chief minister should be from BJP."
Speculations are rife over which parties will tie-up in the state after PDP patriarch Mufti Mohammad Sayeed suggested the formation of a 'grand alliance' in the state involving the BJP and the Congress. According to sources, Mufti believes that the alliance will be representative of the three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
While the PDP claims the BJP is open to the idea, but the Congress is against it. The PDP has already rejected the National Conference's support for government formation.
Ahead of the meeting with the Governor, PDP spokesperson Naeem Akhthar said that the party was not ready with any solution "as yet" to end the political stalemate and all options were still on the table for it. "We are not ready with any solution as yet. It's a very difficult situation and we are trying our best to convert this into an opportunity for the welfare of the state, its economic development and ending political uncertainty about it," he said.
In the middle of continuing political uncertainty, rumours were agog in the Kashmir Valley that the 15-member legislature party of the National Conference (NC) has passed a resolution supporting PDP, which was denied by NC General Secretary Ali Mohammed Sagar.
"We have verbally stated to PDP that in case they want our support, they should talk to our leadership," Naeem Akhthar said. PDP is holding intra-party discussions on possible alliances which the party can enter to form the next government in the state.
Meanwhile, PDP patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was holding consultations with his MLAs and workers. "Sayeed continued consultations with the party rank and file," Akhtar said. He said the PDP patron has been meeting party leaders, newly-elected legislators, senior workers and some of the members of civil society in a bid to shape the party's response to the challenge thrown up by the fractured verdict.
BJP with 25 MLAs is the second largest party in Jammu and Kashmir and needs another 19 to reach the halfway mark of 44 in the 87-member Assembly. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has 28 MLAs, followed by National Conference (15), Congress (12) and seven legislators from smaller parties and independents.
Vohra had on Friday invited Mehbooba and BJP state unit president Jugal Kishore Sharma for separate meetings to hold discussion on formation of government in the state.
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