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I am against a 'skewed religious and regional' representation: Mufti Government formation 2/19/2015 11:21:57 PM Neha Early Times Report JAMMU, Feb 19: PDP patron and the party's chief ministerial candidate Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has explained why he didn't accept the support offered to him by the Congress and the National Conference and said that had he formed the government with the support of the Congress, it would have meant a government sans Jammu and Hindu representation. "GhulamNabi Azad did reach out to me, but given the result, forming a government with the Congress would have meant a skewed religious and regional representation. It would have been a government without enough Hindu representation. I cannot govern the state without taking Jammu along with me. It would only deepen the differences," he has said. He made this significant statement in response to a question put by Barkha Dutt of the NDTV 24X7. Her question was: "Why he (Mufti) did not consider the offer from the Congress or from the National Conference?" The Mufti not only explained the reasons behind his reluctance to accept the support offered by the Congress while talking to Barkha Dutt, but also made an almost identical statement during an interview given to Sagrika Ghose, which was published in the Times of India the other day. Talking to Sagrika Ghose, he, inter-alia, said: "Several offers had come to me for government formation. From the Congress, even from Omar (Abdullah). But I am holding out for regional integration. What about Jammu? They have given a big mandate too. Do they not have a right? We have never wanted Jinnah's two-nation theory in Kashmir. If we get Kashmir then we have to get Jammu. Jammu must have a sense of participation. There is a sense of patriotism in Jammu which I applaud". It was clear from what he told to Barkha Dutt and Sagrika Ghose that he had appreciated the nature of the 2014 mandate. He, in effect, appreciated those who had been expressing the view since December 23 that keeping the BJP out of the government would mean keeping Jammu province and the Hindus out of the government and that the state could wither away in case they were kept out of the government. It is pertinent to mention here that the Congress doesn't have a single Hindu MLA and it happened for the first time in its very long electoral history in the state. In the 2008 Assembly election the Congress had six Hindu MLAs. Similarly, the PDP, which won 28 seats in the 2014 Assembly election, also doesn't have a single Hindu MLA. All the 28 MLAS belong to one particular religious denomination. The point is that the Mufti did make a very valid point by say what he said during his two latest interviews.   Share This News with Your Friends on Social Network     Comment on this Story

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