J-K government formation: Amit Shah to take final call, says Arun Jaitley

Jammu: The newly elected MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have authorised party president Amit Shah to take final call on formation of a new government in Jammu and Kashmir where recently held Assembly elections have thrown up a split mandate, senior party leader and central observer Arun Jaitley said.

Meanwhile, outgoing Chief Minister and National Conference working president, Omar Abdullah,flew back to Srinagar from Delhi on Thursday afternoon. Earlier he had reportedly met BJP chief Amit Shah and Jaitley in Delhi to explore government formation after cobbling up an alliance. Though the BJP has denied any such meetings took place, Abdullah and Jaitley are reported to have agreed to talk to their parties about the pros and cons of a tie-up]

Jaitley, after holding a close-door meeting with the legislators in winter capital Jammu told reporters, “I've personally talked to all (25) MLAs and taken their opinion about who should be the leader of Legislative Assembly.” He added that many options are open for the BJP on government formation in the state. “PDP has slightly more seats than us, but popular vote is with the BJP,” he asserted adding “BJP had the best strike rate in Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.”

He said as far the formation of a government in the state, the party legislators have authorised the central leadership to decide. He, however, also said, "The people's mandate shows that the BJP must be a part of the government" and that towards achieving this goal the BJP will try to win the support of independent or "unattached" legislators. 

On Thursday’s deliberations with party legislators, Jaitley said, “All of them discussed all the relevant issues including government formation in a hung House and who the leader should be in the new House and what role the party would be adopted.” He claimed there was a consensus that government should be formed and which benches the party should occupy.

At the same time, he also said that whoever forms the government, BJP will have a crucial role to play in view of the fact that it has the highest popular vote in the elections. "We will go (ahead on the issue of government formation) with three principles based on national and state interest. They are: strengthening of national sovereignty, development and regional balance.” Asked what would by the party’s strategy towards achieving what appears to be difficult if not unattainable for it,  Jaitley said, “Whether to wait and watch or be active, we will not talk about the strategy to the media.” He added there were no two opinions among the MLAs on the strategy to be adopted.

Meanwhile, outgoing Chief Minister and National Conference working president, Omar Abdullah,flew back to Srinagar from Delhi on Thursday afternoon. Earlier he had reportedly met BJP chief Amit Shah and Jaitley in Delhi to explore government formation after cobbling up an alliance. Though the BJP has denied any such meetings took place, Abdullah and Jaitley are reported to have agreed to talk to their parties about the pros and cons of a tie-up. Abdullah tweeted, “All the camera crews outside my home are going to be very disappointed when I leave Srinagar tomorrow having met no one ‘interesting’ here

Jaitley who was deputed by the party as central observer along with its national secretary Arun Singh said the BJP’s vote in this election is higher than those parties and groups which have contested on all the 87 seats. “We have won 25 out of the 76 seats we contested whereas the other major parties contested all the 87 seats. Our strike rate is high. We’ve the highest popular vote. We’ve an overwhelming mandate in the Jammu region while the Valley has been divided between PDP (25 seats), National Conference (15) and independents (5),” he said.