BJP pulls out, J&K govt falls

PDP, Cong, NC rule out possibility of alternative alliance

NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR/JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir was set for a spell of governor’s rule after chief minister Mehbooba Mufti resigned on Tuesday in a rapid turn of events after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended its almost 40-month-old alliance with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and withdrew its support to her government.

Late on Tuesday, Governor N N Vohra sent a recommendation to the ministry of home affairs for imposition of Governor’s rule in the state. The move which will require the formal assent of President Ram Nath Kovind, who is travelling in Europe and Latin America and was on Tuesday night on a flight from Greece to Suriname. An MHA spokesperson confirmed that the ministry had received the Governor’s report.

The end of the BJP-PDP coalition, on a day of intensive political action in New Delhi and Srinagar, came two days after the Union government decided to resume counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir, suspended for a month for Ramzan. Coming a year ahead of national and state elections, it presages a new period of uncertainty in India’s most sensitive state, wracked by almost three decades of militancy.

BJP president Amit Shah first met national security advisor Ajit Doval, a key policy maker on Kashmir, on Tuesday morning, said a BJP leader familiar with the meeting. They discussed the situation in the state.

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