All does not seem well within the PDP-BJP coalition government as most of the BJP ministers and its state party president skipped the ‘iftar’ party hosted by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in Jammu on Sunday evening.
Only Legislative Assembly Speaker Kavinder Gupta attended the party.
It was unlike last year when an army of BJP leaders, including ministers and party functionaries, had attended the iftar party hosted by Mehbooba Mufti on the lawns of her residence here.
This time, the BJP leaders gave the iftar a miss and all party ministers preferred to stay away from Jammu city.
While Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh preferred to stay back in Srinagar on a holiday, BJP state president also didn’t come back to Jammu after attending a daylong session of the legislature on Saturday.
BJP ministers — Choudhary Lal Singh, Chander Prakash Ganga, Sham Lal Choudhary — preferred to visit their respective constituencies to be with people.
Meanwhile, some of the PDP ministers and leaders such as Abdul Haq Khan, Choudhary Zulfkar and Sartaj Madni had flown from Srinagar to Jammu especially to attend the party.
BJP legislator from Nowshera Ravinder Raina, who also did not attend the party, said the time was not right for holding the iftar party.
“At a time when the state is still mourning the death of six policemen and Lt Ummer Fayaz, who gave the supreme sacrifice for the country, it was not time to attend the iftar party. Instead, I decided to remember the martyrs,” said Raina.
All not well within coalition, BJP ministers skip ‘Iftar’ hosted by Mehbooba Mufti
