A day after National Conference leader Omar Abdullah wrote to state Governor NN Vohra pledging his party’s support to the PDP for government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, the Mehbooba Mufti-led party on Wednesday rejected the offer.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesperson Naeem Akhtar told ANI that the National Conference has failed to realise it has been defeated by people in the Assembly Elections.
Omar, former state chief minister, yesterday asked Governor Vohra not to take any decision on government formation without consulting his party.
Akhtar alleged the National Conference was trying to come back to power through the back door.
“They are in no position to decide who will form government in J&K. They are trying to turn their defeat into victory which is not possible,” the PDP spokesperson said, adding “we are not giving National Conference a chance to come to power through back door”.
Last night also, Akhtar had said, “Our agenda is not just to come to power but use it as a means to bring peace and stability in Jammu and Kashmir.”
He said that if cobbling up a government had been the sole aim of the PDP, it would have staked its claim by now.
“Now the NC has sent a letter to the Governor offering support to us and we would have staked claim by now, had we just been interested in coming to power,” he said.
Asked about the talks with BJP on government formation, Akhtar said the back channel contacts were on.
“The structured dialogue has not started yet but back channel talks are in progress,” he said without elaborating further on the issue.
PDP and BJP have been in talks but failed to reach any agreement even three weeks after the results came, following which the Governor’s Rule was imposed in the state last week.
The Assembly polls, whose results were declared on December 23 last, threw up a fractured mandate. PDP emerged as the single largest party with 28 seats in the 87-member House. BJP bagged 25 seats, NC 15 and Congress 12.
Omar had resigned last week as the caretaker chief minister.
