The BJP’s negotiations with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir seem to have been finalised with PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti meeting BJP president Amit Shah here late on Tuesday afternoon.
“We have reached an agreement on a common minimum programme (CMP) with the PDP and we will form the next government in Jammu and Kashmir,” Shah said after meeting Mehbooba here.
A formal announcement will be made “in the next few days” after a meeting takes place between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and PDP supremo Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, he added.
Mehbooba said the new government will work in the national interest, ensuring that the people of J&K get “clean, corruption-free” rule.
“Fortunately, we have reached an understanding. The agenda of this alliance is to win the hearts and minds of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.
“This is not a power sharing deal,” she added.
Two-month negotiationThe two ideologically divided parties came to a consensus following over two months of intense negotiations, after the State threw up a divided verdict in the polls held late last year.
The PDP swept the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley, securing 28 seats, while the BJP won a majority of the seats in the Jammu region. The BJP put up its best-ever performance in the border State, securing 25 seats.
The BJP chief’s meeting with Mehbooba is an indication that the two parties have more or less ironed out differences on the three contentious issues blocking the alliance — withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA); a promise to not revoke Article 370; and resumption of dialogue with Pakistan.
On Article 370, a core ideological issue with the BJP, the party is believed to have taken a pragmatic stand by agreeing to the formulation that it will “uphold Constitutional guarantees to the State of Jammu and Kashmir”.
Since all the constitutional guarantees to the State flow through Article 370, it is natural that the BJP is resigned to the fact that “abrogation” of the provision is not a possibility even if the two parties choose not to mention it in so many words.
On the PDP’s demand for withdrawal of the AFSPA, the two parties are believed to be considering the constitution of a Joint Central Committee to prepare a timeline for its revocation. Even on the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, it seems the PDP will have to be satisfied with the Prime Minister’s initiatives and improvement in the atmospherics for talks.
Stable and complexA PDP-BJP alliance is perceived to be the most stable and, alternatively, most complicated in the State. With the BJP’s strength and base in Jammu and the PDP mostly being confined to the Valley, the concerns and priorities too are different and that is the reason for the prolonged negotiations.
“The meeting between the party president and Mehbooba Mufti is meant to be sending a signal to everyone concerned that we intend to form a government and all issues will be sorted out.
“There are different kinds of pressures on legislators from both sides and these meetings send a signal to calm down and be resigned to the fact that there will be a government and it will have BJP and PDP as allies,” said a BJP leader.