Congress giving 'unrelated reasons' to boycott Mehbooba's swearing-in: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday hit back at the Congress Party for boycotting the swearing-in ceremony of Jammu and Kashmir chief minister-designate Mehbooba Mufti, and said that the reasons given by the grand old party are 'unrelated' to the function.

"I think the reasons given by the Congress to boycott the swearing-in ceremony are quite unrelated to the ceremony which is taking place," Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh told ANI.

"Rising above the political lines, it is the responsibility of all the political parties to accept the mandate of the people and offer their cooperation in the smooth running of the government, which is committed to the development of the state. I think the development of the state should be the priority for each political party, regardless of its ideology and affiliations," he added.

The Congress has decided to stay away from today's swearing-in ceremony of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba as the first woman Chief Minister of the state.

They have termed the PDP-BJP coalition as 'unholy alliance'. The ceremony is scheduled to take place at 11 a.m. at the Raj Bhawan here.

Jammu and Kashmir was put under Governor's Rule on January 8, a day after then chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed passed away in New Delhi.

The PDP and the BJP had staked claim for government formation on March 26, two days after Mehbooba was elected as PDP's legislature party leader.

Mehbooba, had earlier met Vohra and staked claim to form the government with the support of 25 MLAs of the BJP. The PDP has 27 MLAs in the 87-member state Assembly.