BJP-PDP talks face new obstacle

Sources say back-channel talks between two sides on formation of new govt have failed

Hopes of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) resolving their differences to form a government in Jammu & Kashmir hit yet another obstacle on Friday. The fresh uncertainty came a day after PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti met BJP president Amit Shah.

It is likely to become clearer in the days to come whether this is an orchestrated misinformation campaign by the two parties to send a message to their respective support bases that they weren’t bending to the demands of the other. According to sources, back-channel talks between the two sides on forming a new government have failed.

In a related development, the Indian Army agreed to vacate large tracts of land held by it at four places in Jammu & Kashmir, including the 212-acre Tattoo ground in Srinagar by the end of this month, one of the demands by the PDP to form a government with the BJP.

The decision was announced on Thursday after a meeting between Governor N N Vohra and Lt Gen D S Hooda, GOC-in-C Northern Command, during which senior officials including Chief Secretary B R Sharma were present.

BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav, the party's pointsman in the state, said the stalemate that existed earlier continued and that pre-conditions could not be the basis for government formation. “There is no change in our stand. We have told them that a new government should be formed on the basis on conditions that existed earlier.”

The PDP with 27 legislators and the BJP with 25 had formed an alliance on March 1, 2015, with Mehbooba’s father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as chief minister. Both sides had agreed on an ‘Agenda of Alliance’, which sought to address internal and external dimension of the state. Asked about the new demands put forward by the PDP chief, Madhav said: “The first thing is that no new demand is acceptable to us and the second thing is that if there are new demands, then it can be taken up once a new government takes over. A state government always has a right to make demands to the Centre. A government cannot be formed on the basis of conditions.”

After Sayeed’s demise, the PDP under Mehbooba has toughened its stand and is seeking concrete plans for the state’s development including handing over of power projects to the state and vacation of land by the Army before the coalition could be resumed.

Governor's rule was imposed in the state on January 8 after Mehbooba decided against taking over the reins after her father's death.