JAMMU: Shifting of personal belongings of Mufti Mohd Sayeed by his close family members from the official residence of Chief Minister here in Jammu has certainly put pressure on his former cabinet colleagues including Deputy Chief Minister to follow suit in the coming days.
In the absence of any possible signs of government formation in the State, the former cabinet ministers occupying ministerial bungalows may have to vacate their official residences as the stipulated time period is fast approaching.
So far none of the BJP or PDP minister has vacated official bungalow as they were keenly awaiting the outcome of the crucial round of meetings in Kashmir and Jammu over the issue of government formation.
The official cars and personal staff of the ministers were already withdrawn by the State after the imposition of the Governor’s rule on 8th January, 2016.
Though all eyes are set on the PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti on what decision she takes on the issue of formation of alliance with the BJP but sources within the BJP claimed in case PDP refuses to form government, Governor N N Vohra should explore the other options and invite the next bigger political party to see whether it is in a position to form the stable government in the State.
Since the stalemate is stretching too far, the BJP state unit has also geared up its machinery to adopt aggressive posturing to convey it is not ready to bend its knees and would not succumb to the pulls and pressures of coalition politics at the cost of compromising their agenda. “We have already suffered a lot by aligning with fanatic, anti Jammu and pro militant party under the crucial circumstances, which has harmed us in Jammu so we shall not knee down before PDP for our further disaster,” said a former cabinet minister.
The BJP leaders claimed the party high command has made it categoric to junior state leaders to explain their party position to the electorate that the party was not ready to negotiate further on the ‘Agenda of Alliance’.
On the other hand, PDP leadership too has toughened its stand over certain emotive issues such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act, vacating buildings occupied by security forces, and looking for certain degree of commitment from the BJP leadership at the highest level before forging a new alliance .