New Delhi: Nearly two weeks after the assembly elections delivered a fractured mandate in Jammu and Kashmir, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to launch talks with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to explore the possibility of forming a coalition government in the state despite serious ideological differences between the two.

At a meeting in Delhi on Monday, leaders of the state BJP unit gave the go-ahead to the party’s central leaders to hold detailed discussions with former chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s PDP. BJP president Amit Shah, the core group of the BJP Jammu and Kashmir unit and some of the newly elected members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) from the party were present at the meeting. “The BJP leadership took inputs from the state units of the party in Jammu and Kashmir.

The suggestion of the state leadership was to take forward talks with PDP,” said Ram Madhav, general secretary of BJP, who is leading the government formation efforts in the state for the BJP. The election results announced on 23 December showed the PDP emerging as the largest party with 28 seats in the 87-member assembly, followed by the BJP with 25, the National Conference (15) and the Congress (12). If the proposed talks bear fruit, the sensitive border state will get its first PDP-BJP government.

However, senior BJP leaders admit the two parties have major ideological differences on several issues. The PDP is opposed to the BJP’s stated aim of removing Article 370, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Equally, the BJP opposes a cornerstone of the PDP’s poll plank—an India-Pakistan dialogue to resolve the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir. The PDP leadership wants the central government to initiate a dialogue with Kashmiri separatists, whereas the BJP-led government at the centre broke off India-Pakistan peace talks last year over what until then were regular “consultations” between the Kashmiri separatists and Pakistani diplomats.

“Keeping in mind the mandate in Jammu and Kashmir, we have decided to take forward the talks. The state leaders held talks on some issues with the party president. The views of all party state leaders were taken,” said Madhav. The BJP leaders who were present at the meeting with Amit Shah were Ram Madhav, Union minister Jitendra Singh, the party’s J&K in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna, BJP state unit president Jugal Kishore Sharma and senior state leaders Nirmal Singh and Bali Bhagat. The BJP, which won all 25 seats in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region, is also holding talks with independent MLAs in an effort to increase its numbers in the assembly.

“It seems that the BJP will form a government with PDP. There is a possibility, but the final decision will be taken after some of the crucial questions are answered,” said a senior leader of the BJP who is aware of the government formation steps. BJP members requesting anonymity said the party will form a team of two to three people who will hold a dialogue with the representatives of the PDP in Kashmir, with some of the talks also slated to be held in Delhi. Political analysts believe the ideological differences between the two parties are “serious” and that they will have to work hard to reach common ground.

“Both the parties, the BJP and the PDP, have been pondering on the possibility of coming together and forminng a government in the state for sometime now. They have serious ideological differences, but both the parties also have experienced leaders who can reach some kind of an agreement,” said Ellora Puri, a Jammu-based political analyst. “The two parties will have to work hard to reach a common minimum programme. Since Mufti Mohammed Sayeed has been at the centre (he was Union home minister) and in state politics as well, the two parties can reach a common ground which will suit the constituency of both the parties,” Puri added.