AARYAN SHARMA
JAMMU: For last couple of days PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti may have been regularly sending feelers to the BJP high command and the Union Government headed by Narendra Modi that she was willing to continue the arrangement provided certain Confidence Building Measures were initiated for welfare of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
But in the absence of any official statement from any one of the central BJP leaders or senior ministers of the Union Government dealing with the issue of government formation in the sensitive state have apparently made PDP leaders bit nervous too.
Barring single statement of former Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh no other significant leader or who’s who of the central BJP or even national spokesmen have reacted to the swift development raising high hopes of early government formation between the estranged alliance partners.
During the past one week, PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti has made beautifully crafted statements before the media and got good coverage for the same but so far she has failed to elicit positive response from the Union Government over her peace overtures after initial round of hiccups.
First Mehbooba Mufti made public her desire to become Chief Minister while kick-starting fresh membership drive in Jammu. Then she reiterated her partys’ stand in a similar meeting in Vijaypur where she claimed the onus is on the Union Government to create conducive atmosphere for peace.
Though she had put a rider by pushing the ball to the court of Union Government but when she failed to impress them with her half- baked statement she chose to clarify her stand further while addressing party workers in Kupwara on Monday.
Mufti sahab ka faisla pather ki lakeer hai (The decision of Mufti Sahab is final),” Mehbooba said while deliberating on the alliance with the BJP.
However, she cautioned that the government formation with the BJP was not possible until the Centre steps in with confidence building Measures, as discussed in the ‘Agenda of Alliance’ between the two parties.
On the other hand chinks in the state BJP unit surfaced when some of the leaders objected to the unilateral statement made by the Deputy Chief Minister without discussing the same at the party level.
A senior hardliners BJP leader said a section of BJP ministers who were hungry for power were pushing their case for patch with the PDP but the central party leaders have so far chose to ignore the same. It remains to be seen whether BJP leaders from the State and the Centre would come on the same page or script another chapter making it clear to the PDP top brass of lesser chances of staying together for their own survival.
