“Dost dost na raha”: Omar mocks Ram Madhav over bullish claims on govt formation in Jammu & Kashmir

Sarcastically reacting to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Ram Madhav’s bullish claims over government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Monday that his National Conference (NC) is not BJP’s friend. He ruled out the possibility of any poll alliance with the saffron party.

Speaking to the media in Jammu on Sunday, Madhav had maintained that the BJP and “some friends” will form a stable government after Assembly elections are held in the state.

Quoting a famous song, Dost dost na raha, from Raj Kapoor starrer Sangam (1964), Omar quipped, “... let’s see if these ‘friends’ have the courage to admit their pre-poll alliance or do they want to deliver a PDP-BJP type surprise.”

Jammu and Kashmir had plunged into a political crisis in June last year after People’s Democratic Party-led government was reduced to minority following withdrawal of support by the BJP. Since Jammu and Kashmir has a separate constitution, six months of Governor’s rule was imposed on the state before bringing it under President’s rule in December last year.

But ahead of the imposition of President’s rule, the PDP had again staked claimed to form government in alliance with the NC and the Congress. “Have been trying to send this letter to Rajbhavan. Strangely the fax is not received. Tried to contact THE Governor on phone. Not available. Hope you see it,” party president and former Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti had tweeted tagging the governor’s Twitter handle along with the letter.

A rival bid to form a government had come in from separatist-turned-politician Sajad Lone's Peoples Conference (PC), that is believed to have backing of the BJP. In the current scenario, however, PDP’s loss is proving PC’s gain.

Speaking at PDP’s 19th foundation day, Mufti had said that her “decision to ally with BJP was like drinking a cup of poison.” Many in Kashmir feel that PDP was doomed to decline after it entered into alliance with the BJP. The alliance was, in fact, called the “South and North Pole”. Ironically, at the time of alliance formation in December 2014, many political commentators had anticipated that the BJP would dent its image in Jammu and rest of the country after tying up with a “soft-separatist” party in the conflict ridden state. Even some political observers in Kashmir had scoffed that “Kashmiris devour lotus (the BJP's election symbol) stems”.

“…all the garbage in the party has gone out with the wind,” Mehbooba said recently while referring to a spree of resignations of her top party leaders. She impressed upon the youth to help her pull the state “out of this misery”.

“The BJP is ready for the Assembly polls in the state. It is up to the Election Commission to decide whether the two polls are held together or separately,” Madhav told reporters in Jammu, responding to the question regarding simultaneous elections in the state.

Referring to the “special circumstances in the state”, Madhav—who was hailed as the chief architect of BJP-PDP alliance—however, said that the BJP does not have any hesitation in joining hands with other parties to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir.

Going into the background of his party’s alliance with the PDP after the 2014 Assembly elections, he said: “we formed an alliance with the PDP based on a common minimum programme.”

“Our party would most likely contest alone in the Assembly elections,” he claimed, adding that “We will field candidates for all the seats in the state. At the same time, there is little possibility of a pre-poll alliance with any party.”

He added: “I am confident that the BJP will emerge as the largest single party after the election.”

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi's forthcoming visit to the state, on February 3, he said Modi would kick off party’s campaign for Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.