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No fruitful outcome yet on J&K govt formation: Amit Shah

"We want to form government in Jammu & Kashmir," says the BJP president

The BJP is holding talks with the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party on government formation in Jammu and Kashmir but there were “no fruitful” results yet, party president Amit Shah said on Friday.

Mr. Shah said his party had secured the people’s mandate and wished to form the government.

“We want to form the government. We are in talks with both the parties but there has been no fruitful outcome so far,” Mr. Shah told reporters in Mumbai.

Even as the BJP has sought more time from J&K Governor N.N. Vohra on government formation, sources say discussions were taking time due to a lack of consensus on the CM’s post.

The BJP, with 25 seats, is the second largest party after the PDP, which has 28 seats but is also way short of a majority.

Mr. Shah said that his party’s performance in the State should not be distorted to show that it had failed to perform in Kashmir valley and only secured votes in Jammu. “Kashmir is a unit. The overall analysis of the State would be fair,” he said.

The BJP chief who was in town to review his party’s membership drive held a meeting with the Maharashtra BJP core committee team, led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Party general secretaries and key Maharashtra cabinet ministers were present in the meeting. Mr. Shah laid stress on translating the party’s mandate into organization strength.

Mr. Shah instructed his party ministers to visit two districts other than the one held by them to mobilize support, sources said. “The target being talked about is to make the BJP the single largest party in the world, to reach the masses like never before,” a senior BJP functionary said.

Mr. Shah, who was earlier this week discharged by a CBI court in the Shohrabuddin Shiekh and Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter cases, refused to comment on the judgment. He said his lawyers would do the talking on the issue.

Responding to questions on the controversial issue of Ghar Vapasi fuelled by Hindutva groups, Mr. Shah said his party was not in favour of forced conversions and appealed to all parties to reach a consensus on the anti-conversion law. “Once the law is in place, conversions will stop automatically,” he said.

Though he did not endorse the outcry against Aamir Khan starrer PK, the BJP chief said those outfits demanding a ban on the film had the freedom to protest.