J&K Parties Start Pre-Negotiations for Government Formation

Srinagar:Days before the vote count, major political parties in Jammu and Kashmir have begun to identify their potential alliance partners from among the smaller groups and independents and talk to them in an effort to bear the palm in the government formation.

The local watchers say that in the event of the recently held Assembly elections throwing a hung house, the government formation may involve complex and protracted negotiations between political parties. The winning independents will play a crucial role in the formation of the next government, they say.

In this backdrop, the BJP, even though it publicly claims that it will inch close to the majority mark on its own, has directly or through emissaries approached regional political groups and some independents who are widely believed to have won the voters’ trust to seek their help to push past the majority mark of 46 in the House of 90 required to form a government.

Presumably, the BJP thinks it may fall short of numbers as many of those who were accused by its opponents of being its proxies have not performed well in the Assembly elections the polling for which was held in three phases-September 18 and 25 and October 1. Also, the BJP is unlikely to win any of the Kashmir Valley’s 47 seats which would be quite in contrast to its performance in the Dogra heartland.

On the other hand, the National Conference (NC)-Congress combine too is chasing potential allies from among the smaller groups and independents. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which, as per poll pundits, is likely to win, at least, half a dozen seats or even more has already made it somewhat discernible that it would go with the INDIA bloc should it stake a claim to form the new government.

PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has over the past one month repeatedly asserted that her party is essential for forming the next government in J&K. Since the PDP leadership is disinclined to have any kind of tie-up with the BJP realizing their previous partnership eventually proved a “political suicide” for it (PDP), the possibility of it supporting the saffron party in the government formation is ruled out.

While the pre-negotiations are in full swing in Srinagar and Jammu among top political names, the NC on Friday denied the rumours that its leadership is covertly talking to the BJP for a possible tie-up in the runup to the government formation.

In a statement, the NC said that it categorically denies the unfounded rumours of 'back channel' talks with any party outside the INDIA Bloc. “Those sensing their impending defeat have resorted to spreading such baseless accusations. We urge the public, who have placed their trust in us, to disregard these false claims and not be swayed by rumour mongering,” it said.

Earlier former Mayor of Srinagar Junaid Azim Mattu had in a series of posts on ‘X’ claimed that NC president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah had secretly met a BJP leader at Kashmir’s premier resort Pahalgam twice to explore the possibility of cobbling up an alliance for the government formation. Mr. Mattu had said, “Two meetings and negotiations on a potential NC-BJP alliance. One at a luxury hotel in Pahalgam on Wednesday — late evening — mediator a known political fixer. Another Thursday early morning at the Pahalgam Golf Course — mediator a reputed big businessman”.

In another post, he said, “The NC-BJP negotiations have happened in Pahalgam headed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah himself — accompanied by the “apolitical” mediators. Let NC deny this, I’ll be happy to share the names, details, venue and times of the two meetings.”

He claimed that the initial groundwork includes the creation of a “larger interest” fig-leaf to justify the “betrayal in Kashmir”. “Which BJP representative did Dr. Farooq Abdullah meet at Pahalgam not once but twice? What negotiations are being held in Pahalgam? What happened to all the stentorian rhetoric of BJP being forbidden and prohibited? The more that things change, the more they remain the same,” he added. However, in yet another post, he said, “Seems like it was a complete coincidence that BJP emissaries and the NC President were in Pahalgam on the same days at the same time. How stupid of us!” The NC sources said Mr. Abdullah was in Pahalgam for a golf tournament.

Meanwhile, NC vice president Omar Abdullah in a post on ‘X’ said, “The BJP has clearly accepted defeat in J&K. Why else would the Chief Secretary be assigned the duty to change the transaction of business rules of the government to curtail the powers of the Chief minister / elected government and assign the same to the LG?” He added, “This information has come to me from within the Secretariat. Officers would be well advised to resist any pressure to further disempower the incoming elected government”.