PDP hints at tie-up with BJP; Mehbooba Mufti meets J&K Governor NN Vohra

SRINAGAR: Political temperature in Kashmir picked up again on Wednesday with indications from the PDP camp that the party is open to a tie-up with BJP to form a government in Jammu & Kashmir.

Early in the day, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti met J&K Governor NN Vohra and told him her party was not averse to an alliance with BJP in the face of a “decisive” but “divisive and challenging” mandate. BJP’s special observer to J&K, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has already had a discussion with PDP patriarch Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.

In what is perceived as an indication of things getting back on track, Sayeed left Srinagar for the snow resort of Gulmarg on Wednesday to usher in the new year. J&K polls had thrown up a fractured mandate with PDP coming on top with 28 seats in the 87-strong assembly, and BJP emerging No. 2 with 25 seats. Political observers have been predicting a PDP-BJP alliance that would also bridge the demographic divide — most of PDP’s seats are from Kashmir Valley while all of BJP seats are from Jammu — but the party was cautious that an alliance with the saffron camp would go against it in the long run in this Muslim-majority state.

In her meeting with the Governor, Mehbooba Mufti claimed support from 55 MLAs, although she didn’t clarify where the rest of the 27 MLAs would come from. However, both BJP and PDP sources cautioned not to read too much into Mehbooba’s meeting with the governor.

PDP sources said all options are open, although there have been some positive developments on the BJP-PDP front. But given the set of issue involved in getting two ideologically diverse political entities together to rule India’s most sensitive state, sources say it will take a long time to reach some consensus.

BJP’s Ram Madhav sounded positive, but was guarded in his statements. “We appreciate Mehbooba Mufti’s gesture through media,” he said, adding “We await formal initiation of dialogue. But when such a mandate is given there are more than one alternatives,” he added.

Talking to reporters after meeting Vohra, Mehbooba Mufti said reconciliation should be focus of the new dispensation. “Our priority is not to cobble up a majority for the sake of government formation,” Ms Mufti said. “Whichever formation firms up, it should respect the mandate of the people and must have reconciliation as a key principle or otherwise forming any government is useless.”