What Next For BJP in Jammu and Kashmir? Arun Jaitley Holds Key Meet Today

Mangalore Today News Network

Srinagar, Dec 25, 2014: The BJP’s newly elected law-makers in Jammu and Kashmir are meeting now to decide on their presumptive Chief Minister. With 25 of the state’s 87 assembly seats, the BJP delivered its strongest performance in India’s only Muslim-majority state, but fell way short of the majority it had sought, and must now decide whether to partner with a regional party and attempt to form the government, or serve as the Opposition.

Arun Jaitley and Ram Madhav have been deputed by the BJP from Delhi to supervise today’s proceedings. Sources confirmed that the party is in touch with Omar Abdullah, who lost his bid for a second term as Chief Minister, but with 15 seats for his National Conference, he is a viable option for an ally.

Mr Abdullah has said so far that he is content to "wait and watch" the moves made by other parties; he has refused to reject the BJP as a political spouse, telling NDTV that though "it is 99% no", he is "leaving a crack open". Amid talk of his meeting with BJP leaders, Mr Abdullah tweeted today that he has not delayed his plans to travel to London.

The party that won the most seats in the state - 28 - is Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s Peoples democratic Party or PDP, a group whose views on several key issues are the diametric opposite of the BJP’s. The BJP won all its seats in the Hindu-majority Jammu region; the PDP dominated the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley.

A sustainable working relationship could be hard to engineer, though sources on both sides confirm talks are underway, and include the option of a rotational Chief Minister - so the government would be led for a fixed period by a candidate from each party.

 

Courtesy: NDTV