BJP pushes for another cabinet berth in J&K

Strong resentment brew among the cadre of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a partner in the ruling alliance in Jammu and Kashmir, post the induction of two People’s Democratic Party (PDP) legislators — Mehbooba’s brother Tasaduq Mufti and Javaid Mustafa Mir — as cabinet ministers tilting the fulcrum in PDP’s favour.

The decision was taken without consulting the BJP who continue to play second fiddle in the state government.

The BJP has in its turn decided to push for cabinet rank to one of its three ministers of state.

With the induction of Mufti and Mir, PDP now has 12 cabinet ministers including chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and two ministers of state while BJP has eight cabinet ministers including deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh and three ministers of state.

Talking to Hindustan Times, BJP state general secretary Narinder Singh said, “We are definitely going to take up the matter and demand that one of the ministers of state from BJP be given the cabinet rank.”

Riding high on Modi-wave, the BJP had won 25 Assembly seats, all from the Jammu region in the 2014 Assembly elections, an alltime high for the party, which it may not be able to repeat in the times to come.

Under the alliance pact, the PDP should have only three cabinet minsters more than its alliance partner, but in the present scenario PDP has 12 and BJP has eight.

The PDP, therfore, should have inducted a cabinet minister and a minister of state on Thursday, the BJP demands.

“Mehbooba’s uncle Syed Farooq Andrabi was the minister of state for Haj and Auquaf before he paved way for Tassaduq in the Cabinet. Therefore, legitimately, one of them (Tassaduq Mufti or Javaid Mustafa Mir) should have been made a minister of state,” said a party leader.