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| Will the BJP group hold its ground firmly? | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 10: Certain "important" leaders of the J&K BJP today held an "important" meeting outside the party office. The objective was to review the situation arising out of the demise of the incumbent Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7 and the PDP's "negative attitude to the suggestion that the power-sharing formula between the two parties needed to be reviewed so that the BJP and the PDP lead the state for three years each and Jammu gets more space in the Cabinet and some 'vital' portfolios". This was what a senior party functionary told this correspondent on the condition of anonymity.
Senior PDP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beigh had on Friday overruled the possibility of rotational Chief Minister and allocation of more portfolios to the BJP, saying the BJP couldn't change the rules in the middle of the game. There are many leaders in the BJP who favour the 2002 power-sharing formula between the PDP and the Congress - formula under which the PDP and the Congress agreed to rule the state for three years each and both the parties had equal representation in the Council of Ministers and the state cabinet. In fact, former political advisor to J&K BJP president, Prof Hari Om, on Friday issued a written statement to this effect, which also urged the party high command to snap ties with the PDP and direct the state unit of the BJP to function as an effective opposition in the state to counter the divisive politics of the Kashmiri parties. There are many such leaders in the BJP who vouch for such an approach on the part of the party leadership.
However, the problem with the party is that the BJP ministers in the Mufti government want status-quo. They are happy with the same old power-sharing formula for obvious reasons. One of the former BJP ministers did tell this correspondent on the condition that his name will not be disclosed that "any dithering on the part of the party at this point in time will only help the Congress, which has been trying its level best to persuade the PDP leadership to discard the 'communal" BJP and go in for a 'secular' political arrangement in the state".
"The BJP ministers in the Mufti government are with the party high command, which wants the local BJP leadership not to impose any condition and accept the position of servitude and subordination. The high command favours the same power-sharing formula as was clinched in February 2015. The BJP ministers are with the high command. But majority of the party leaders want the high command to negotiate a new power-sharing deal so that Jammu gets its due share in the governance of the state. The BJP will become a 'pariah' in Jammu in case it agrees to the 2015 power-sharing formula," revealed another senior party functionary.
He further revealed that "an overwhelming majority in the party was of the firm view that the BJP, which was already at the receiving end for its acts of omission and commission, as also for the manner in which it subverted the Jammu mandate, will be completely decimated by the people of Jammu region in case it again sacrifices their political and economic interests".
"There was a view that it would be in the larger interest of the party and the country if the BJP sits in the opposition," another important party leader told this correspondent after the meeting, adding that "the BJP can't afford to sacrifice the interests of Jammu and the nation as a whole to appease Kashmir-centric PDP for the sake of some insignificant portfolios" and that "now is the time to assert its position and authority and obtain for Jammu what it deserves".
The fact of the matter is that the BJP is a divided house with former ministers favouring the old power-sharing formula with some cosmetic changes here and there and majority in favour of a review of the 2015 power-sharing formula. Will the opponents of the former BJP ministers hold their ground firmly or will they go with the party high command is the real question? The statement of the newly-nominated president of the J&K BJP Sat Sharma that the "party is not in a hurry" speaks for itself. Similarly, the Saturday statement of former spokesperson of the BJP-PDP coalition government and senior PDP leader Naeem Akhar that "the process to form government might take weeks" was also very significant. |
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