Srinagar: Rejecting reports that her party will start formal talks with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over government formation in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that no such decision has been taken.
"There are no such plans to talk to BJP over the government formation in Jammu and Kashmir. We are in no hurry. We can't compromise on the promises made to the people," she said.
Upping the ante on National Conference (NC), Mehbooba said it was Omar Abdullah who met BJP President Amit Shah in Delhi to chalk out a plan to form a government in the state. "Neither me nor our party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed or any other party leader have met any BJP leader to discuss government formation in the state," the PDP president said.
Mehbooba further said that contrary to NC's claims that they have offered unconditional support to PDP to form a government, the Omar-led party has so far not sent any formal request. "NC has been talking about offering unconditional support to PDP only on media and social media. But that is not the way, they should send a formal request which can be debated in the parliamentary affairs committee of the party," she said.
The election results declared on December 23 threw a hung Assembly with PDP emerging as the single largest party with 28 seats in 87-member House. Meanwhile the BJP, which came a close second with 25 seats - all in Jammu - is leaving no stone unturned to form a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim majority state in the country, with the help of either of the two regional parties.
NC won 15 seats while contrary to expectations Congress managed to bag 12 seats. Smaller parties and independents won seven seats.
Sources in the PDP said newly-elected MLAs of the party have voiced apprehensions about the party's future in Kashmir if it entered into an alliance with the BJP for government formation in the state. "The MLAs who were asked to get feedback from their respective constituencies have expressed concerns over joining hands with the BJP, the party which has nothing to lose in Kashmir. They think that future of the party can be in jeopardy if it forms a coalition government with BJP after compromising with its constitutional and political promises made in the election manifesto," sources added.
With just a fortnight left for the tenure of the current government to end, no combination has been able to cobble up an alliance in the state to form the government, following a hung Assembly, due to ideological differences among all three major parties with the BJP.
The two regional political parties - NC and PDP - are so worried that they might have to face the wrath of the people of the valley, if they are associated with the BJP, that both the parties have out rightly rejected that they are in talks with the saffron party to form a government in the state.
On Friday, just hours after Amit Shah claimed that BJP is in talks with the NC over government formation, the Omar-led party denied such development. "Our party president (Farooq Abdullah) and working president (Omar Abdullah) are in London. We are not able to understand with whom the BJP is talking over government formation," NC said.
(Abid Soffi is the Managing Editor 'Kashmir Pioneer'. He lives in Srinagar.)
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