J-K assembly dissolution: BJP to hold internal brainstorming meeting

A day after Governor Satyapal Malik dissolved the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided to hold an internal brainstorming meeting on Thursday to discuss the future course of action.

The party's state unit is in favour of holding assembly polls and Lok Sabha elections simultaneously in 2019. Party's state unit president Ravinder Raina told ANI, "The BJP has called for an important meeting with all its MLAs today and we will decide the future course of action. We wish that the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir should be conducted along with Parliament elections."

BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta hit out at political parties which have decided to join hands to stake claim to form a government. According to him, these parties perhaps have decided to come together at the behest of Pakistan. These parties might have got instructions to "do so from across the border", said Gupta.

Until the Governor's rule was imposed in the state in June this year, BJP was a coalition partner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which staked claim last night saying that it had the support of the National Conference (NC) and the Congress. Subsequently, the Governor dissolved the Assembly. The Governor's rule was imposed after BJP pulled the strings.

Meanwhile, terming the dissolution of the assembly "unfortunate", Congress leader Kapil Sibal said that "satya (truth)" has been turned into "asatya (untrue)". He went on to say, "The Governor should not have done so especially when he knew the ground situation that three parties have come together to form the government."

Ravinder Sharma, another Congress leader, also termed the decision of the Governor as "unconstitutional".

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti wrote a letter to the Governor yesterday, staking a claim. She mentioned that she failed to get through the Governor via fax and hence she shared a copy of the letter on Twitter.