AGENCY
NEW DELHI: Efforts to revive the BJP-PDP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir have hit a roadblock with BJP making it clear that government cannot be formed on the basis of conditions.
A day after Mehbooba Mufti met BJP Chief Amit Shah here, her party sources also indicated that the back-channel talks between the two sides on formation of a new government have failed.
However, BJP General Secretary, Ram Madhav, party’s pointsman in the State, went on record to say that the stalemate that existed earlier continued and that conditions cannot be the basis for government formation.
“There is no progress. As far as we are concerned there is no change in conditions that existed when Mufti Mohammed Sayeed Sahab was the Chief Minister. The only change is that Mufti Saheb is no longer there and it was for PDP to appoint a new leader and carry on,” he told reporters here.
Replying to questions on Mehbooba-Shah meeting, Madhav said “there is no change in our stand. We have told them that a new government should be formed on the basis on conditions that existed earlier.”
PDP with 27 MLAs and BJP with 25 members had formed an alliance on 1st March last year with Sayeed as the Chief Minister. Both the sides had formed an ‘Agenda of Alliance’ which sought to address internal and external dimension of the State.
Asked about the new demands put forward by the PDP Chief, Madhav said in clear terms that “whatever fresh has to done has to be done after government formation”.
“The first thing is that no new demand is acceptable to us and the second thing is that if there are new demands then it can be taken up once a new government takes over.
“A state government always has a right to make demands to the Centre. A government cannot be formed on the basis of conditions,” he said.
When asked if a new government will be formed, he said “I cannot say because the stalemate that existed earlier continues”.
PDP says no new conditions
Srinagar: With BJP saying that conditions cannot be the basis for government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, PDP said it had not set any new terms and was insisting only on implementation of issues agreed upon in the ‘Agenda of Alliance’ between the two parties.
“PDP has not set any new demands but only reiterated the implementation of ‘Agenda of Alliance’ as was earlier agreed with BJP,” it tweeted.
Senior PDP leader and MP Muzaffar Hussain Baig on late Friday evening also said that PDP has set no new conditions before the BJP over continuing the alliance and said that the two parties should remove the misunderstandings between them and resume consultations on government formation.
“I cannot say with certainty whether the government will be formed or not. But as far as I know, Mehbooba Mufti has not set any new conditions before BJP to form the government again. She has asked the BJP to ensure the Agenda of Alliance is implemented if they formed the government,” Baig told a Srinagar based news agency. The PDP reaction came soon after BJP’s pointsman Ram Madhav went on record to say that the stalemate that existed earlier continued and that “conditions cannot be the basis for government formation.”
PDP, with 27 MLAs in the 87-member Assembly, ran a coalition government with 25-member BJP for 10 months before the sudden demise of then Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed. The state is now under Governor’s Rule since January 8.
The PDP also uploaded a link to the ‘Agenda of Alliance’ document that was “mutually agreed between J&K PDP and BJP last year”.
A PDP leader, on condition of anonymity, said all the issues raised by party president Mehbooba Mufti were part of the ‘Agenda of Alliance’.
The leader said Mehooba wanted assurances from the Centre on dialogue with all stakeholders in the state including the separatists and revocation of the AFSPA, which have been agreed by the two parties.
“The earlier NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee had initiated a dialogue process with all political groups, including the Hurriyat Conference, in the spirit of Insaaniyat, Kashmiriyat aur Jamhooriyat .
“Following the same principles, the coalition government will facilitate and help initiate a sustained and meaningful dialogue with all internal stakeholders, which will include all political groups irrespective of their ideological views and predilections.
“This dialogue will seek to build a broad based consensus on resolution of all outstanding issues of J&K,” reads the document agreed between the two parties last year.
On revocation of the AFSPA, the agenda of alliance reads: “While both parties have historically held a different view on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the need for it in the State at present, as part of the agenda for governance of this alliance, the coalition government will examine the need for de-notifying disturbed areas.
“This, as a consequence, would enable the Union Government to take a final view on the continuation of AFSPA in these areas”.
The PDP leader said, on the development front, return of power projects to the state and inclusion of both Srinagar and Jammu in the ‘Smart Cities’ was also part of the document.
“In order to address the real source of J&K s fiscal problem and pave the way for making J&K a fiscally autonomous state, the State Government will work with the Union Government to explore modalities for transfer of Dulhasti and Uri hydro power projects to J&K as suggested by the Rangarajan Committee Report and the Round Table reports,” the documents reads.
