Mehbooba cannot be silent on govt formation: Omar

Making it clear that his party is not ready to support BJP in case the PDP-BJP alliance snaps, NC leader Omar Abdullah on Sunday said that Mehbooba Mufti must break her silence as she cannot keep the entire state guessing on government formation.

PDP leader “Mehbooba Mufti has been quiet for long and she can no longer remain silent. She must clarify her stand on two-three issues and clear the air as to what are those CBMs and how long she will wait for those Confidence Building Measures and why did the need of CBMs suddenly arise after the demise of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said that although an elected government is not in place, the alliance between PDP and BJP is still intact.

“The agreement as far as our knowledge is concerned, the alliance (between BJP and PDP) still exists. We haven’t heard either from BJP or PDP that alliance has been broken, so the alliance exists and if the alliance exists, then why not government (is formed).

“Agenda of the alliance was formed and Mufti sahab was made the chief minister. What has changed in the past ten months that today even though they have numbers in the assembly they are not ready to form the government”, he said.

Omar said that National Conference has been telling them time and again that if they are not ready to form the government, they should be bold enough to break the alliance.

“We will go back to the people, but I am unable to understand the way of their leadership. They ask for Confidence Building Measures, but I am not sure that within the party people know or not, but outside nobody knows what they have asked for,” he said.

He said that even BJP was not aware of what PDP was asking for. “Even as BJP has said that please clearly tell us what you are asking for, so we too would want to know what are the CBMs which Mehbooba Mufti is asking for, and did they keep a timeframe, a deadline,” Omar said.

Omar said, “Even if Mehbooba has demanded some CBMs then she should tell the people that what are the CBMs and should also fix a timeframe as the state is not going to wait for them forever.

“They should have a timeframe and say if in so many days we don’t get a reply, then this alliance is finished and we will go to the people.” 

Asked whether his party would support BJP if the latter approaches it for government formation, the NC leader said that his doors for BJP were closed a year ago and they remain closed even on Sunday.