Jammu and Kashmir inches towards Governor's rule

NEW DELHI: With no headway being made in government formation, Jammu and Kashmir may be inching towards a spell of Governor's rule as no political party appeared to be in a position to cobble up numbers.

Reported discussions between PDP and BJP or with anyone else have not yielded fruit even as the tenure of the outgoing Assembly comes to an end on January 18.

State Governor N N Vohra, who is here on a personal visit, had a meeting with Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami and discussed the political stalemate.

Later, caretaker Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who returned from London this morning after visiting his ailing father and former Union Minister Farooq Abdullah, also called on the Governor.

Meanwhile, BJP President Amit Shah expressed optimism in Bhubaneshwar about early resolution of the impasse saying his party was in the process of holding negotiations.

"No decision has been taken on Jammu and Kashmir so far, but negotiations are on and a clear picture on Government formation will emerge soon," he said.

PDP's chief spokesperson Naeem Akhthar told PTI in Srinagar that all options for the party were still open. "We are only carrying out internal party discussion on government formation and nothing more," he said.

Asked about media reports that some of the PDP MLAs had been threatened from across the border, Akhthar said "none of the party MLAs has reported the matter to the party high command and, therefore, its not possible for me to comment on this."

With separatists including hardline separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani upping their ante on a possible alliance with BJP, valley-based political parties, especially PDP, is finding it difficult as its majority of votes comes from the strongholds of Jammat-e-Islamia, a constituent of Geelani-led Hurriyat.