Day after Jammu and Kashmir Assembly dissolved, BJP to hold important meeting on Thursday

A day after Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik dissolved the Assembly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday called for an important meeting with all its MLAs to decide the future course of action.

The core group meeting is scheduled to take place in Jammu at 11 am.

The BJP further added that the party wanted that the assembly elections for the state should be conducted along with the Parliament elections, scheduled to take place in 2019.

Speaking to news agency ANI, BJP state president Ravinder Raina said, "The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for an important meeting with all its MLAs today and we will decide the future course of action. We wish that the Assembly elections in J&K should be conducted along with the Parliament elections."

Earlier on Wednesday, Malik dissolved the assembly even as former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) staked claim to form government with the support of the National Conference (NC) and the Congress party.

The decision of the Governor did not go down well with the parties, who decided to form an unprecedented alliance in Jammu and Kashmir. Leading the attacks were former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, who have been arch rivals in the polity of the state.

Expressing shock over the decision of the Governor to dissolve the Assembly in a sudden manner, both Mehbooba and Abdullah claimed that they had been demanding the same for the past five months but their repeated requests were not paid any heed to.

After the decision was announced by Malik, the BJP had welcomed move and defended it. The saffron party termed the new partners of the rival alliance as “terror-friendly parties”. Citing the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP tweeted that “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.”

“The proposed alliance between the INC 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. Keeping the security scenario of J&K in mind, can it afford horse-trading and instability? J&K needs a firm administration to deal with terrorism and not a combination of terror-friendly parties,” the BJP further said in a tweet.

Raina had also 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.

The assembly was in suspended animation since June 19. In the assembly, PDP has 29 MLAs, National Conference has 15 and the Congress has 12 legislators.

The six-month tenure of the governor's rule ends on December 18 which will be followed by President's rule. The state assembly's tenure was till October 2020.

Governor's rule was clamped in the state on June 19 for a 6-month period following the collapse of the PDP-BJP coalition government headed by Mehbooba Mufti after the saffron party withdrew support.