GOVT UNSTABLE: BJP ministers quit, alliance in trouble

Jammu, Apr 17: In a major political development, all the BJP ministers in the Jammu and Kashmir government resigned Tuesday evening in a secret meeting held after a go-ahead from the top BJP leadership in New Delhi.
A decision on whether the BJP will remain in the Mehbooba Mufti-led government will be taken after the resignations, BJP sources told The Kashmir Monitor.
Sources added that the decision regarding the resignations of the six ministers was taken at a meeting at the BJP’s party office in Jammu, and a six-point charter was released shortly. The BJP apparently miffed at “the weak stand taken by the Mehbooba Mufti-led government on terrorism”.
The resignations were sent to the state party president Sat Sharma, which means there may yet be room for negotiations between the two parties.
The development comes merely days after two BJP ministers in the J&K government who had attended communally-toned pro-rapist protests in the horrific Kathua rape and murder case had resigned following public outrage and the Prime Minister’s statement that the government of India would go to any lengths to ensure justice for the Kathua and Unnao rape victims.
One of the ministers who had resigned, Lal Singh, on Tuesday took out a rally from Jammu to Kathua to continue his protests demanding a CBI probe in the case. Details of the horrific rape and murder which were revealed in the chargesheet that was filed in the case by the J&K Police crime branch last Monday had shocked the nation and triggered a wave of outrage.
The PDP, which is the senior member in the alliance that has been in power in India’s north-most state since 2015, had issued a news conference where it had said that the alliance would continue.