India Politics

Mehooba Mufti resigns as Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister

Mehooba Mufti resigns as Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister

In a dramatic turn of events Mehbooba Mufti resigned as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday after the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) broke the alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). She sent her resignation to the Governor NN Vohra.

Out of 87 elected seats of J&K Mufti was left with only 28 seats after BJP ended the coalition between the two parties. “The chief minister will be submitting her resignation to the governor shortly,” senior PDP leader Naeem Akhtar said on Tuesday.

“It has become untenable for the BJP to continue in the alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir,” Ram Madhav, party general secretary stated. “In order to bring control over the situation prevailing in the state we have decided that the reigns of power in the state be handed over to the Governor”, he added.

With the ruling party PDP-BJP falling apart, the state might come under governor’s rule and the rule will continue on till the next successor is decided, voted and won the seat of the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. The governor rule in J&K will be for the fourth time in the last 10 years. Last time Governor rule was implied in 2008 July when then CM Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned from the position of Jammu and Kashmir after Congress pulled out of the coalition with PDP over the Amarnath land row. Then again in 2014 December Governor’s rule was imposed in the hung verdict in the assembly elections of 2014. And lastly in 2016 January Governor’s rule was imposed in J&K after the demise of then CM Mufti Mohammed Sayeed after his death his daughter Mehbooba Mufti was elected as the CM of Jammu and Kashmir. And now after Mehbooba Mufti’s resignation from the CM position the state will once again fall under Governor’s rule for the fourth time.

The BJP had entered into an alliance with PDP after an inconclusive election in 2014. In the current Assembly, the BJP with 25 MLAs and the PDP with 28 MLAs formed a majority of 45.

In the wake of the broken alliance with BJP, Congress had stated that they would not tie-up with the PDP. The BJP had committed a “Himalayan blunder” by forming a government with the PDP, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress leader said. He also said that the BJP, a national party, should not have allied with PDP, a regional player. “The regional parties should have been allowed to form an alliance among themselves,” he told reporters. The alliance has devastated the state, be it economically or socially, and has left Jammu and Kashmir in a state of “ruins”, Azam stated.

Although no comment from the BJP or Mehbooba Mufti herself has been given out yet.

For more details follow the live updates of the news report of BJP-PDP broken alliance. 

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Aman Kumar Singh

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