BJP names observers for J&K, Jharkhand

NEW DELHI: The BJP's Parliamentary board appointed central observers as it prepared to form the government in Jharkhand and devise a strategy to deal with the hung legislature in J&K. Union minister for finance Arun Jaitley and Arun Singh (national secretary of the BJP have been appointed observers for J&K while Union minister for health JP Nadda and party VP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe have been deputed to Jharkhand to oversee the choice of legislative party leader and eventual chief minister of the state.

The teams will, in all likelihood, leave on Friday. According to top sources in the party, privy to the discussions on both states, while the case of Raghuvar Das for chief minister of Jharkhand has been cleared by the party high command, the Jammu and Kashmir situation was discussed in detail.

"As party president Amit Shah said yesterday, all options for us are open. In fact, six out of the seven independents elected to the J&K legislature are with us and therefore we have a very strong bargaining chip with either PDP or even NC," said a top office bearer of the party. In the run up to the elections, the PDP had, in fact, made very appreciative statements about former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee.