President Ram Nath Kovind, on 20 June, approved the imposition of Governor’s rule in J&K, a day after the BJP announced the end of its alliance with the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP in the state.
Addressing the media on 19 June, BJP leader Ram Madhav said that the BJP pulled out of its alliance with the PDP as it had become “untenable”.
BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav made the surprise announcement hours after the party high command summoned its Jammu and Kashmir ministers for emergency consultations in New Delhi.
Madhav said the decision to withdraw from the state government was taken after consulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah.
Following the announcement, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti tendered her resignation to Governor NN Vohra in Srinagar. Addressing a press conference after her resignation, Mufti expressed surprise at the BJP’s decision for pulling out of the alliance, saying: “The main motive of the alliance was reconciliation with Pakistan and with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
“We will continue to strive for dialogue and reconciliation in Jammu and Kashmir,” she added.
Mufti reiterated her stance that J&K can’t be treated as an “enemy territory” and that “muscular policy” will not work in the state. During the press conference, Mufti also clarified that PDP will not enter into any other alliance.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, whose party is the third-largest in the assembly, met the J&K Governor after Mehbooba Mufti’s resignation. He stated that his party did not have the mandate in 2014 and that they don’t have the mandate to form the government now either.
“We have neither been approached by any party, nor have we approached anyone. We are in favour of Governor’s rule in the state and early elections,” he told reporters.
Both the NC and the Congress asserted that they will not ally with any party to form the government in the state.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters that the BJP had committed a “Himalayan blunder” by forming a government with the PDP. He said the BJP, a national party, should not have allied with PDP, a regional player. “The regional parties should have been allowed to form an alliance among themselves,” he told the media.
(With inputs from PTI)
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