SRINAGAR - The People's Democratic Party (PDP), crucial partner in the Congress-led ruling coalition in Jammu and Kashmir, has pulled out of the government in a latest development in the Amarnath land row.The decision was taken at an extraordinary meeting of the party leaders and later made public at a Press conference by its president, Mehbooba Mufti. Two senior party leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussein Baig, later headed for Raj Bhawan to hand over the letter of withdrawal of support to Governor N. N. Vohra.
The PDP had asked Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to rescind the recent government order diverting about 40 hectares of forest land in the Sindh range, north of summer capital Srinagar, to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) that manages the annual pilgrimage to the cave-shrine of Amarnath in Kashmir Himalayas and set June 30 as the deadline for meeting its demand.
But as the unrest in Kashmir has only intensified over the past two days over the land row with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets, the PDP, which otherwise has been a party to the land diversion decision, by quitting the government apparently wants to seize the opportunity to consolidate its vote bank in the predominantly Muslim Valley which sent most of its 19 members in the last Assembly elections held in 2002.
The chief minister was also closeted with the governor. With the PDP pulling out and the Congress' strength in the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly being only 34, the Azad government has been reduced to a minority and as the other major group National Conference, which has 25 members, unlikely to extend its support to him, the only option left for Azad is to recommend the dissolution of the Assembly, local watchers say. In such an event, Azad may be asked by the governor to continue as a caretaker chief minister till fresh elections are held which in any case are due in October this year.