BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit on Wednesday said the party should get “just and equitable share” in power with ally PDP and has conveyed it to the central leadership, indicating that the party was driving a hard bargain before the swearing-in of chief minister-designate Mehbooba Mufti.
“There is a general perception that as the number of our MLAs is same as that of PDP, there is nothing wrong if we expect that our numbers (in government) to be same. We should get just and equitable share in distribution of power,” BJP’s state unit chief spokesman Sunil Sethi told reporters ahead of a party meeting here.
He said the state leadership has conveyed the matter to the party high command.
“It is for the party high command now how they negotiate the same (with PDP),” Sethi said.
Though the PDP-BJP alliance staked claim to form government in the state last Saturday, the date for swearing-in of the chief minister-designate is yet to be announced.
PDP has 27 MLAs in the 87-member state Assembly while BJP has 25.
PDP and BJP had formed government on March one last year with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as the Chief Minister and BJP’s Nirmal Singh as his deputy. In the council of ministers, PDP had 14 minsters and BJP 10.
Asked whether the delay in swearing-in of Ms. Mehbooba was due to a tussle between the coalition partners over ministerial portfolios, he said, “There is nothing about any particular ministry. We just want the equitable distribution of power.
Jammu should also get equal share as Jammu has equal numbers (in the assembly).”
On the allegations levelled by former chief minister Omar Abdullah that BJP and PDP were not serious on government formation, Mr. Sethi said both the parties have already started the process of government formation.
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