Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Mar 25: Clea-ring the decks for formation of Government in the State and ending over two-month stalemate, PDP and BJP are all set to jointly call on Governor, N N Vohra tomorrow afternoon and stake claim to form the next Government that will be headed by PDP chief, Mehbooba Mufti.
A day after Mehbooba, was unanimously elected as the PDP’s Legislature Party Leader and nominated as the party’s CM candidate, BJP Legislature Party met here today and elected Nirmal Singh as its leader.
Singh will again be the Deputy Chief Minister in the new Cabinet, a post he had held in the Mufti Mohammed Syeed’s dispensation, BJP State president Sat Sharma told reporters after the meeting.
Sources said BJP and PDP leaders comprising of Chief Ministerial candidate and PDP president Ms Mehbooba Mufti, BJP Legislature Party Leader, Dr Nirmal Singh, BJP State chief, Sat Sharma, former president of the Party and MP, Jugal Kishore Sharma, PDP senior leaders and MPs Muzaffar Hussain Beig and Tariq Hamid Karra will meet Governor at 3-30 pm tomorrow and stake claim for formation of the Government in the State.
While Mehbooba will hand over a letter staking claim to form the Government, Dr Nirmal Singh will hand over the letter from the BJP side supporting her claim, sources added.
The Governor had summoned both presidents of PDP and BJP separately for today for consultations on Government formation in the State. However, both the parties mutually decided to postpone today’s meeting and seek time for a meeting so that their two leaders can jointly call on the Governor and apprise him about the decision of the Legislative parties of PDP and BJP.
Earlier in the day, BJP’s national general secretary and incharge Jammu and Kashmir Ram Madhav said “Legislature Party of the BJP in Jammu has decided to support PDP in the formation of the Government in the State and together BJP and PDP will approach the Governor and stake the claim for formation of the Government very soon.”
Today’s BJP meeting was attended by Madhav, and Minister of State in PMO with Independent charge of North Eastern States,Dr Jitendra Singh.
Brushing aside rumours over differences over distribution of portfolios, both the parties said the alliance was being worked out on the lines as decided under the leadership of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, who died on January 7 this year. Madhav said PDP-BJP will go together to meet the Governor to stake claim for formation of the Government in the State.
He said the “BJP Legislature Party has decided to support PDP in the formation of the Government in the State and BJP and PDP together will approach the Governor and stake claim for formation of the Government very soon,”.
Asked if BJP has deferred its meeting with the Governor, who had written to the party to clear its stand on Government formation by today, Madhav said that BJP had never sought time from the Governor.
To a question on distribution of portfolios, Madhav said, “all that will be discussed later. Initially and immediately BJP and PDP will go and stake their claim to form the Government.”
If there were any differences between the two coalition partners and whether they have been sorted out, he said that the PDP chief had herself stated that there were no differences.
“There are no differences. Mehbooba Mufti herself had stated yesterday that she is ready to form the Government and that she has reposed her full faith in the Central Government and together we will form the Government in the State and together we will give a stable and good Government that will work for the welfare of the people and development of the State,” Madhav said.
He said that the Government formation would be based on Agenda of Alliance that was agreed upon by both the parties a year ago.
Soon after his arrival from Delhi Union Minister in PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh in an informal chat with reporters said “our guiding principle will be the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), the agenda of governance agreed upon by both the parties one year ago,”. He said that there were no differences between coalition partners BJP and PDP in the State where decks have been cleared for Government formation.
“There was never a breakdown in the coalition between BJP and PDP. I think this is the continuation of the process which started about a year back,” Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister in the PMO, told reporters ahead of a crucial BJP legislators’ meeting here.
Dr Jitendra Singh, said, “there were no differences. When you are in a coalition, you have to accommodate each other’s priorities and each other’s preferences”.
“That is precisely what we do in a healthy coalition that augers well for Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.
To a question on how long it will take for Government formation in the State, he said, “Very soon.”
“I think very soon the coalition partners will sit together and work out all the modalities to ensure that a structure is in place with all its compatibilities and coordination intact,” he said.
The Minister said that both the parties will work on the agenda of development.
In response to a question that Hurriyat was demanding settlement of Kashmir issue, Dr Singh said that Hurriyat has become irrelevant now and Indian Government policy on Kashmir is clear and Constitutionally India’s position is also clear as we are committed to joint Parliamentary resolution of 1994 on it.
“As we have decided to form the Government with PDP, we will support the Chief Ministerial candidate of PDP”, BJP State president Sat Sharma said.
Meanwhile, sources stated that Governor N N Vohra has decided to get approved the Vote on Account in the State Administrative Council (SAC) meeting soon as the financial year 2015-16 is coming to an end on March 31 and passage of full budget was not possible in view of delay in Government formation in the State.
PDP and BJP had formed an alliance on March 1, last year with Sayeed as the Chief Minister. Both the sides had formed an Agenda of Alliance which sought to address internal and external dimensions of the State.
Governor’s rule was imposed in J-K on January 8 after Mehbooba decided against taking over the reins after her father’s death.
However, sources said that the new Government will be installed in first week of April and not before that.
Later the leaders of two parties met in the evening and discussed modalities for Government formation and both sides decided to meet Governor tomorrow to formally stake claim for formation of next coalition in the State.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
