Still efforts are on to forge a PDP-BJP tie up but there are sharp differences on important issues like article 370, on future of AFSPA and a review of the larger role of the army. BJP cannot give up its position on Article 370 and special status to Kashmir while Article 370, is an article of faith for the PDP. In the event of the PDP joining hands with the BJP, it will be construed as negation of the peoples mandate. It may mean that in the next election, PDP may be wiped out in the valley. In the PDP itself, there is resentment against Mahbooba’s having any truck with the BJP. Around half-a-dozen of the 28 PDP MLAs have rejected the idea of a tie-up with the BJP, saying that it would go against their mandate.

The group which wants a tie-up feels that this is the best chance for the PDP to redefine the politics in the state. “Six years is a long-time in politics and if Muft Mohd Sayeed delivers, we will be able to strengthen ourselves in both Srinagar and Delhi”, say pro-alliance MLAs. The fact that the BJP is in power at the Centre is an obvious attraction since central funds for fLood relief will be the immediate challenge. A Modi-Muft tie-up is seen by pro-alliance group as a partnership that can outlast the equation the Abdullas had with the Congress leadership.

But this argument is being confronted by a political reality. A section of the PDP is worried that the tie-up may lead to backlash in the valley. “The high voter turnout was because the voters didn’t want the lotus to bloom in the valley. If we tie up with the BJP, the National Conference will benefit tomorrow”, say some PDP leaders.

Mehbooba has made strengthening of article 370 ,soft borders and revocation of AFSPA the key elements of her campaign. She has reportedly said that these issues were non-negotiable. And the BJP knows that its voters in Jammu do not want a compromise on these issues either. “It is a tough situation for both sides to evolve a common ,minimum agenda”, admit BJP leaders. “Whatever we might gain in one region, we will lose in another; we will be nowhere”.

PDP leaders say the situation was one of compulsion versus choice. The so called “secular grand alliance being pushed by Ghulam Nabi Azad or the PDP alliance with the Congress and NC is increasingly being rejected as an option, because it is seen as bringing in through backdoor parties which have lost the mandate.

Pro-alliance PDP leaders are also willing to look at the positive aspects of Modi’s leadership—a key one is said to be that he doesn’t listen to the IB when it comes to Kashmir and does not have a conspiratorial mindset on Kashmir. However, the PDP believes it will have to neutralize the BJP while in alliance. One, if the BJP talks of article 370, PDP will walk out of the government and two, AFSPA must go.

Making the situation more complex is the stand taken by independents. Of seven, four are considered ready to support PDP-BJP tie up while three don’t seem to want this alliance. The National Conference is playing a wait-and-watch policy while the Congress seems clearest for now; it will support any deal where the BJP is kept out.

As of now, frantic efforts were being by the PDP and BJP leaders to narrow the differences on contentious issues like article 370. According to latest reports Finance Minister Arun Jaitely called up PDP patron Mufti Sayeed to explore the possibility of government formation. After Jaitley’s long talk with Mufti, PDP President Mehbooba’s comment soon after meeting Governor, N N Vora, further substantiated the favourable shift within the PDP towards an alliance with the BJP.

Mehbooba has been quoted as saying although the PDP had the support of 55 MLAs (Congress 12 and 15 NC), it did not want to cobble up a majority for the sake of government formation. Sources say the PDP would move slowly towards government formation while it prepares its constituency for the “inevitability” of an alliance with the BJP because of the fractured mandate. PDP leaders have been working hard to give a twist to the visible irreconcilability between BJP’s stated Kashmir agenda and PDP’s political position. (IPA Service)