Dissolution of JK assembly ‘undemocratic’: JK Cong Chief

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Congress Thursday attacked Governor Satya Pal Malik over the “undemocratic” decision to dissolve the state assembly and alleged that he kept the House in suspended animation to “facilitate horse trading” by the BJP and its allies to form the government.
The governor abruptly dissolved the state assembly Wednesday night, hours after the PDP staked claim to form a government with the backing of rival NC and the Congress. This was followed by another bid by the two-member People’s Conference which claimed the support of the BJP and 18 legislators from other parties. “It was an undemocratic decision by the governor when three parties came together to stake claim for the government. It is simple murder of democracy in this sensitive state,” Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir said It has sent a wrong message to the people, he added.
Mir said demands by political parties in the past for dissolution of the state assembly were turned down even though they had made it clear that none of them was in the position of form the government. “But he (Malik) said that he can run the assembly in suspended animation till 2020,” the state Congress chief said. “He was facilitating the BJP and its allies in Kashmir (so) that they should bulldoze other parties, arrange numbers through horse trading and allow them to form the government,” Mir alleged.
He said the move to dissolve the state assembly after the PDP, Congress and NC alliance staked claim raised questions about the Governor’s office. “Our alliance did not suit the BJP and the central government. The assembly was dissolved on their directions,” he alleged.