Once again government formation in Jammu and Kashmir has propped up the hopes of aspirants. The Mehabooba-Shah (Amit) in New Delhi having an exclusive 30-minute car ride looks as if political decisions are made on joy rides. What is intriguing is PDP Chief Mehabooba Mufti’s frequent Delhi trips? First she refuses to have any tie-up with BJP and secondly frequent Delhi visits, does it not reflect that everything is not well within the party? It looks the growing internal pressure and fear of losing some party faces that have considerable clout with electorates and hold the command to guide party, have become strong that she now finds the only solace is in joining hands with BJP’s central leadership. Strewn with such pressures and pulls now than the earlier phases the government formation may take place but will not be able to stabilise itself. The turbulence will continue and given the prevailing conditions the PDP-BJP ride is going to hit the rough patch very soon. Stretching too much and too far is not that safe, it may snap any time and can leave more pain. Today the government formation in the State has all the ingredients of a comedy unfolding. The State BJP leadership which had the edge once is in ‘once bitten twice shy’ mode and has withdrawn into its shell. Even the trouble-shooter Ram Madhav too has distanced himself from Kashmir. That could be the reason why Amit Shah had to step-in the arena. On the other hand PDP leadership too might have realised the futility of playing emotional card to cater to the local population. No state has seen such melodrama in government formation especially when the coalition has two majority party winners in their respective regions of Jammu and Kashmir. BJP leadership in Jammu has not come up to the peoples’ expectations as they were more interested in trivial issues rather than going to people and understanding their problems. Some of the party leaders are protesting on the issues such as ration under National Food Supplies Act (NFSA) which their government had finalised when it was in coalition with PDP.
