JK Governor calls PDP, BJP for parleys on govt formation

Amid continuing suspense over formation of new government in Jammu and Kashmir, Governor N N Vohra today invited PDP and BJP, the first and second largest parties in the elections,  which threw up a highly-fractured verdict with no clear winner.

Vohra has sent separately to PDP Patron Mufti Mohd Sayeed and state BJP chief Jugal Kishore "for holding discussions on the proposal for government formation," a Raj Bhavan official said.

BJP, which ended up with a tally of 25 in the 87-strong Assembly, and PDP, which secured 28 seats, have held discussions in the last two days to explore the possibility of coming together.  There was no indication as to how the discussions have gone.

Parallelly, two other key players, the National Conference (NC) which got 15 seats and the Congress (12 seats), continued to make efforts to keep BJP out of power by offering support to PDP, whose response remained a matter of speculation.

NC Working President and the outgoing Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who has already declared that there is no deal between his party and the BJP, tweeted tonight that only "a verbal offer of support" has been conveyed to the PDP.  But it looks like "PDP is playing mind games with the BJP leaking about a letter of NC support that doesn't exist".

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad asked the BJP not to be "insensitive" and  be seen indulging in "arm-twisting" tactics while "bulldozing" its way on government formation.

"The way BJP is bulldozing regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir and that's just being insensitive towards the mandate and people of the state, " Azad, who is Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, told reporters in Delhi.