Both parties apprise J&K Guv of track 2 dialogue for a coalition Govt
In a clear indication that the PDP and BJP were inching closer towards forming a coalition Government in Jammu & Kashmir, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the BJP stitched up an alliance for the Rajya Sabha poll on Wednesday. The RS election is scheduled for February 7. MoS in PMO Jitendra Singh has been dispatched to Jammu to hold parleys inside the party and with the PDP for the fomation of a Government in the State.
The development came on a day leaders of both the parties met J&K Governor NN Vohra separately in Raj Bhawan and apprised him of the present status of the ongoing parleys between them over Government formation in the State. To cement their ties ahead of the formal announcement, both the BJP and the PDP fielded two candidates each for the four Rajya Sabha seats and hoped to win them with the backing of a few Independent MlAs.
According to the Raj Bhavan spokesman, “BJP leaders Ram Madhav, Jugal Kishore and Dr Nirmal Singh, during the course of nearly one-hour long meeting with the Governor, briefed him about the present status of the ongoing BJP-PDP discussions on the formation of a coalition Government.” Senior BJP leaders in Jammu, however, remained tight-lipped and evaded media queries claiming the party high command would take a final call.
According to the Raj Bhawan spokesman, “Dr Haseeb Drabu, a close confidant of Mufti Mohd Sayeed, too apprised the Governor of the direction of the PDP-BJP parleys on Government formation and the broad contours of the understanding they were about to arrive at.” Sources said negotiators from both the parties were in the process of finalising the contours of Common Minimum Programme (CMP) ahead of holding structured dialogue between the high command of both the parties. last week PDP patron Mufti Mohd Sayeed had publicly admitted that PDP was holding negotiations in track II with the BJP to form a Government in the State.
However, Mufti had listed out conditions according top priority to time-bound repeal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), transfer of NHPC-run power projects to the State Government and continuation of Confidence Building Measures initiated during his term in office as Chief Minister. On the other hand, estranged alliance partners --- National Conference and Congress --- too have been forced to join hands for the Rajya Sabha polls.
On Wednesday, Ghulam Nabi Azad along with two former ministers and close confidantes of Omar Abdullah filed their nomination papers hoping to give tough competition to BJP-PDP combination. The decision to field Azad as one of the joint candidate was taken during the meeting between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
After arriving at an understanding NC, too, decided to field Nasir Aslam Sogami and Sajjad Ahmad Kitchloo in the fray. Both these National Conference leaders who served as MoS (Home) in Omar’s council of Ministers had lost Assembly polls. According to political observers, “PDP with 28 members and BJP with 25 legislators can easily win three out of four seats and relying on support of Independent candidates to win the fourth seat as well.”
Ghulam Nabi Azad is hoping to retain his Rajya Sabha seat with the support from National Conference, CPI(M) candidate MY Tarigami and Independent candidates. After filing the nomination papers, Azad claimed, “I have the required numbers to win the Rajya Sabha seat.” PDP spokesman Naeem Akhtar claimed in the absence of adequate numbers on their side the PDP and the BJP too have decided to come together to win the four Rajya Sabha seats.
NC provincial president Devender Singh Rana told reporters, “After BJP-PDP decided to come together to fight Rajya Sabha seats, the Congress and the NC too fielded three candidates to give tough competition.” He claimed the Congress was ready to support candidature of NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah as well, but in view of his medical condition Dr Abdullah was not in a condition to contest the Rajya Sabha polls.