Srinagar: Uncertainty over government formation increased on Sunday with PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti saying she will take a call after “reassessing” whether ally BJP’s government at the Centre would implement common agenda in concrete manner, particularly addressing the “core” political and economic issues of the state.
Mehbooba, who is seen as the successor to her late father as Chief Minister, held four-hour long meeting with party leaders, including MPs, MLAs, zonal presidents and block presidents, talked tough, saying she will take a decision on government formation after being “convinced” by BJP on implementing the ‘Agenda of Alliance’.
The PDP chief, who has called the much-awaited meeting of Legislature Party here on Monday, said during the 10-month coalition government headed by her late father, “there was little movement forward on implementation of political and economic initiatives” despite Sayeed taking the “courageous, although unpopular, decision” of aligning with BJP.
“Instead there were some recurrent unsettling developments which led to lack of congenial atmosphere and had a negative impact even on the good work done on the governance front.”
Mehbooba, who has already been authorized by the party to take a decision on government formation, told the meeting on Sunday that she is “ready to take a call on it once she is convinced that the purpose and the objective of the alliance that Mufti had forged with Prime Minister Narendra Modi” would be taken to its logical conclusion.
She said Sayeed had taken “a courageous, although unpopular, decision of aligning with BJP with the hope that the central government headed by Narendra Modi will take decisive measures to address the core political and economic issues concerning Jammu and Kashmir and its people.”
However, “instead of partnering with and implementing Sayeed’s vision of bringing peace, stability and prosperity to J-K, certain quarters, both within the state and in New Delhi, started overtly and covertly triggering frequent controversies over avoidable contentious issues resulting in wastage of the state government’s energies in firefighting and propitiation,” Mehbooba said.
“In such violative circumstances around, the party will have to reassess whether we can absorb the shocks which Sayeed had to do so frequently in his effort to forge reconciliation between the regions and the people of the state,” she said.
Underlining that the “purpose” of the alliance was “not limited” to government formation but to take the state “out of the trouble that it has faced for most part of its history,” she said, “The PDP will have to reassess whether the central government is ready to trust the people of Jammu and Kashmir and carry out implementation of Agenda of Alliance with sincerity of purpose.”
PDP, with 27 MLAs in the 87-member Assembly and BJP with 25 legislators, ran a coalition government headed by Mufti Sayeed for 10 months before his demise on January 7.
Mehbooba said PDP will take a call on government formation as and when it is confident that Sayeed’s vision and mission will be carried forward and implemented in letter and spirit.
“More than a government, J-K today needs the political will and statesmanship to pull the state out of the morass, which no government in the state could do amid recurrent rumblings over the issues that have already been settled in the Constitution,” she said.
She expressed hope that the Centre will take concrete measures towards the implementation of ‘Agenda of Alliance’ in the interest of peace and stability of the state and the region.
“PDP cannot form a government just for the sake of power but, if it does, it will be, as envisioned by Sayeed, with the objective of addressing the core political and economic issues confronting the state as was done by the PDP-led Government between 2002 and 2005,” she said.
“The Government of India shall have to take substantive measures towards implementation of the PDP-BJP Agenda of Alliance in the interest of peace and stability in J-K and for this PDP needs a set timeframe to be worked out,” she said.
The PDP president said it has been made clear in the very preamble of the Agenda of Alliance that the document is an effort to seek national reconciliation on J-K and facilitate formation of a coalition government in the state that will be empowered to catalyze reconciliation and confidence building process and create conditions to facilitate resolution of all issues of the state.
“As has been made clear in the Agenda of Alliance , it is aimed at sequencing the political process and the economic development and striking the right balance between the two to create a virtuous cycle of peace and prosperity that will accord normal life to the coming generations, especially those regions who have lived in perpetual strife and conflict,” she said.
She said it has been also made clear in the Agenda of Alliance that the present position will be maintained on all the Constitutional provisions pertaining to J-K including the special status in the Constitution of India.
“It has been further made clear that the coalition government in the state will seek to support and strengthen the approach and initiatives taken by the government to create a reconciliatory environment and build stakes for all in the peace and development within the sub-continent including normalization of relations with Pakistan,” Mehbooba said.
She said real progress was made during the past 10 months towards the implementation of good-governance practices listed in the Agenda of Alliance.
“Even though the PDP-BJP government, under the leadership of Sayeed, performed extraordinarily and took some pioneering developmental and welfare initiatives, these could not make a mark among the people because of some unsettling issues being raised by certain quarters repeatedly,” Mehbooba said.
“Amid recurring contestations and controversies, Sayeed worked tirelessly and tried his best to carry everybody along and bring some relief to the people on the governance front and unfortunately, this taxing overdoing ultimately took a heavy toll on his health,” she said.
The PDP chief said her father “tried his best to do something for the people and we will have to reassess whether we can make some real difference on the ground by carrying forward his mission, which needs a congenial political atmosphere.”
She said, “PDP is expecting tangible measures from the present government at the Centre to carry forward and take to the logical conclusion, the reconciliation process which was initiated and worked effectively between 2002 and 2005,” she said.
All these measures have already been enumerated in detail in the Agenda of Alliance and the only thing needed is its implementation with sincerity of purpose, Mehbooba added.
The party, however, termed as “presumption” whether fresh elections could be called in the State which is under Governor’s Rule since 8th January, imposed a day after then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passed away.
The government formation is not stuck but “it’s a process that will carry on”, party leader Naeem Akhtar said.
According to him, Mehbooba told the meeting that for Mufti, the alliance was based on “trust and belief that it will translate into real relief for the people of the state which ultimately would also serve the national interest and also bring peace into the sub-continent between India and Pakistan.”
That is why, Sayeed “always spoke about Indo-Pak relations even on his death bed and the other things which include the economic side of it so that the State is taken out of its problems,” Akhtar said.