The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was abruptly dissolved by the governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday, 21 November, hours after the People’s Democratic Party staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival National Conference and the Congress. PDP’s bid was followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties.
Defending his immediate call to dissolve the Assembly the governor said he took the call in order to save the Valley from an “unworkable alliance” and “a mess”.
Speaking on the panel of BloombergQuint’s primetime show about the timing of the dissolution, BJP leader Brigadier Anil Gupta said:
When asked if the PDP’s alliance with the NC and Congress was the “prod” needed by the governor to dissolve the Assembly, Gupta said, “these parties have been asking for the dissolution of Assembly. But now that it has been dissolved, they are crying.”
Responding to this, Congress spokesperson Salman Soz said that it was an “open secret” that the BJP has been trying to make MLAs from other parties join them so they can form the government. He also described the party “power hungry.”
He alleged that the BJP was “desperate” to get someone with just two MLAs to become the chief minister.
Slamming Soz’s remark that BJP was power hunger, Gupta asked why the party would then withdraw support from the government it was a part of.
Answering whether fresh elections give the state the breather it needs, former interlocutor to Jammu and Kashmir MM Ansari said that the uprising in the valley is due to lack of democracy.
He further added that the Kashmiris have been yearning for a peaceful political process.
“Unfortunately, whichever central government has been in power, they have not allowed democracy to take place and take its route,” the former interlocutor said.
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