Peoples Democratic Party chief patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said here on Tuesday that though everyone on the ground in Kashmir was against their alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, only it had the mandate to come to power in the State among all coalition options.
Mr. Sayeed told The Hindu that he never had any doubt that if he were to become Chief Minister, it had to be in a PDP-BJP coalition.
“They [BJP] have the mandate and it is a mandate as strong as the one Indira Gandhi got in 1983. I think it is the first time that Jammu and Kashmir are coming together in this way,” Mr. Sayeed said. “This is the only way to deliver something on the ground.”
Mr. Sayeed said he saw the present moment as an opportunity akin to the one in 2002 when the PDP came to power for the first time, and believed that this alliance could be a key not only for stability in J&K but also for the future of India and the entire subcontinent.
“I think that our entry into this congregation of the BJP will change the congregation itself and open new visions where J&K could be a corridor of peace between India and Pakistan and the regions that open beyond that,” Mr. Sayeed said. Mr. Sayeed also said he was hopeful that the alliance with the BJP, which is mired in controversies on issues like conversion and ghar vapsi , will broaden the vision of the latter and reflect the diversity of India.
Even though the political position of the PDP and the Kashmir agenda of the BJP-RSS are poles apart, the two decided to form the government on the basis of a Common Minimum Programme.
