On Monday, Mehbooba sent two MLAs Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, PDP MLA from Shopian, to meet dissident Javaid Beag at his home in Baramulla.
With a strong anti-defection law in place in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP's attempts to form a government with the help of rebel PDP MLAs seems to have lost steam for the time being. On Monday, party president Mehbooba Mufti also renewed her efforts to reach out to rebel leaders. Sources here said that while the BJP, over the past many days was trying to circumvent the tough law to anoint either separatist turned pro-India leader Sajad Lone or a Hindu leader from Jammu as the next CM, the realisation that it needs at least 19 PDP MLAs out of 28 to avoid their disqualification, has made it a tough sell.
On Monday, Mehbooba sent two MLAs Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, PDP MLA from Shopian, to meet dissident Javaid Beag at his home in Baramulla. Earlier on Sunday, soon after her return from Delhi, Mehbooba also held one-on-one meetings with 21 lawmakers.
Sources close to former CM said that the lawmakers assured her full support. They even offered to sign resignation letters to prove their loyalty.
Sources further said that in a hurry to cobble together an alternate alliance, the top BJP leadership had not taken into account the state's own anti-defection law, which is more stringent than the one in practice in rest of country.
On December 30, 2005, Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, in an amendment to the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, made it mandatory for the Speaker to recognise a separate group only if it has support of two-third of party members. Currently, only five MLAs have openly revolted against the PDP leadership.
Also provisions of the anti-defection law in Jammu and Kashmir give powers to the leader of the party to disqualify the rebel member rather than leaving it to the Speaker. "There is another clause. If there is a dispute, whether it is defection or not, then it is the leader of legislature party who will decide (about disqualification)", said Mohammad Altaf Haqani, prominent constitutional lawyer of Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
BJP requires 44 members to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir. It currently has 25 members and support of two MLAs so it still falls short of 15 MLAs. With five PDP rebels, who will face disqualification in case of switch over, the chances look bleak. "It needs a miracle to reach the magic number," said a PDP insider. The BJP had reached out to Sajad Lone and had also toyed with the idea of projecting its hardline face former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta also as next head of government.
Meanwhile, former chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah urged the governor NN Vohra to dissolve the assembly in a bid to prevent horse trading. Observers say Mehbooba Mufti instead of hurrying up with her resignation, should have recommended dissolution of the House. While Constitutional experts believe the powers of the dissolution of the House were vested with the Governor exclusively, many quote the precedent as set up by Governor L K Jha in 1977, who on the recommendations of then chief minister Sheikh Abdullah dissolved the House, after he lost majority with the Congress, led by Mufti Mohamamd Sayeed, withdrawing support.
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