Best option in J&K is fresh polls at earliest, says BJP

Team Udayavani, Nov 22, 2018, 9:26 AM IST

New Delhi: The BJP Wednesday said the best option in Jammu and Kashmir is to have fresh assembly polls at the earliest as it slammed the proposed alliance of opposition parties as a “combination of terror-friendly parties”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Twitter, soon after the state governor dissolved the assembly amid claims by rival formations on forming a government, that the border state cannot afford horse-trading and instability keeping its security scenario in mind.

“The proposed alliance between the Congress and the PDP broke up even before it was formed. They have taken contradictory positions on dissolution. One supports it and the other opposes it,” the BJP said.

“The best option in such a scenario is to go in for a fresh election at the earliest. This assembly cannot produce a stable government,” it added. Jammu and Kashmir needs a firm administration to deal with terrorism and not a combination of terror-friendly parties, it added.

The Jammu and Kashmir assembly was abruptly dissolved by the Governor Wednesday night hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival National Conference and the Congress followed by another bid from the two-member People’s Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties.

The dissolution was announced by Governor Satyapal Malik in a communique released by the Raj Bhavan. In Jammu, the BJP’s state unit chief Ravinder Raina said, “We welcome the decision of the governor to dissolve legislative assembly. We welcome it.”

The bid by the PDP, NC and the Congress “was a conspiracy against the people of Jammu and Ladakh (regions). It was conspiracy against nationalist people and also against the country at the behest of some forces.”

“We not only welcome the decision but thank the governor for foiling the conspiracy hatched by these anti-national and anti-country forces,” he added.

Questioning the letter written by PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti staking claim to form government, Raina said it was her own MLA Raza Ansari who challenged her by saying that he has 16 PDP MLAs with him supporting Sajad Lone of the People’s Conference.