The state of Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a political chaos on Wednesday after the state assembly was abruptly dissolved by Governor Satya Pal Malik. The decision came hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival National Conference and the Congress, followed by another bid from the two-member People's Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

The dissolution was announced by Governor Satya Pal Malik in a communique released by the Raj Bhavan.


In another late-night communique, the Governor cited four main reasons for dissolving the Assembly with immediate effect, including "extensive horse-trading and possible exchange of money" and the "impossibility" of forming a stable government by parties with "opposing political ideologies".


The BJP supported the move saying the best option in the stat is to have fresh assembly polls at the earliest as it slammed the proposed alliance of opposition parties as a "combination of terror-friendly parties". "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," it added. Jammu and Kashmir needs a firm administration to deal with terrorism and not a combination of terror-friendly parties, it added.


The dissolution paves the way for fresh election in the state amid speculation that it could be held with the Lok Sabha polls due early next year. 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. 


Here are the live updates:


# "We don't have any complaints from Governor. He is a very nice man. We have complaints from central government that if they had to dissolve the assembly, they should've done it 4-5 months ago when they withdrew support from PDP. For these 4-5 months, BJP tried to form their own government but they didn't have a majority. So they tried to break MLAs from other parties. When they saw that another government could have been formed, BJP dissolved the assembly," said Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.


# BJP state president Ravinder Raina, while speaking to the media on Thursday, called PDP, NC and Congress as Lashkar Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen, respectively.


# Retorting to Ram Madhav's remark, NC leader Omar Abdullah said, "It's unfortunate that a senior BJP leader has said we have got instructions from Pakistan. I challenge Ram Madhav and his associates to prove this with evidence. You are disrespecting sacrifices of my colleagues who refused to dance at Pakistan's instructions and died."


# Slamming the governor, P Chidambaram took to Twitter saying, "As long as no one staked a claim to form government, J&K Governor was happy to keep Assembly under suspension. The moment someone staked a claim, he dissolved the Assembly! Parliamentary democracy standing on its head! The Westminster model of democracy is outdated. Like in all other matters, it is the Gujarat model that has appealed to the J&K Governor


# Reiterating his stand on the dissolution, the Governor said, "I have been saying it since day one of my appointment as Governor that I'm not in favour of any govt formed in the state with underhand defection & horse trading. I would instead want that election are held & selected government rules the state. I've been receiving complaints for the past 15 days of horse trading & that MLAs are being threatened. Mehbooba Ji herself complained that her MLAs are being threatened."


He added, "The other party said there is planning of distribution of money. I couldn't have allowed this to happen. Fax isn't an issue. Yesterday was Eid. Both of them are devoted Muslim & should know that office are closed that day. Even my cook was on leave, let alone the person who handles fax. Even if I had received the fax, my stand would have been the same."


# Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National General Secretary Ram Madhav on Thursday slammed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference (NC) for coming together and joining hands with the Congress to stake claim to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir. In a statement to news agency ANI, Madhav accused the parties of getting instructions from "across the border", in an obvious reference to Pakistan, to come together to form a government in the state.