An indication of a new bonhomie between arch-rivals Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti was witnessed on microblogging site Twitter when the latter liked a tweet by the former immediately after the confirmation of alliance between the two parties.
Omar, who is the working president of the National Conference (NC), tweeted: “Whoever said ‘may you live in interesting times’ knew what they were talking about.”
Mehbooba, president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was quick to ‘like’ Omar’s tweet — a virtual confirmation that the two former Chief Ministers of the state were shedding their enmity for each other.
The online bonhomie between the leaders of the two regional giants came quickly after PDP and NC leaders confirmed that talks between the two parties for government formation were in an advanced stage.
Mehbooba’s Peoples Democratic Party has been an arch-rival of Omar’s National Conference as the two parties have contested all previous elections over the past two decades by campaigning against each other.
Mehbooba was formerly the state’s Chief Minister till the BJP withdrew support for the PDP.
Her rare attempt to ally with arch rival Omar Abdullah’s National Conference to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir might have failed, but it had an impact. Thanking Abdullah and Congress’s Ambika Soni for helping achieve the “seemingly impossible”, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said “the very idea of a grand coalition” had given jitters, in a sharp jibe at her former coalition partner BJP.
Governor Satya Pal Malik ordered to dissolve the state assembly minutes after she had staked claim to form the government with the support of NC and Congress.
The PDP had 28 members in the assembly, the NC 15 and the Congress 12. The bloc had the support of one independent MLA as well.
The assembly had been kept in suspended animation since June when governor’s rule was imposed on the state after the BJP broke the four-year-old coalition and withdrew support to PDP-led government.
Mufti said she thought she had seen it all in her 26-year political career. “But like they said never say never,” she tweeted.
Responding to her thanks, Omar Abdullah said he never thought he had be re-tweeting anything Mufti said “while agreeing with you”. “Politics truly is a strange world. Good luck for the battle ahead. Once again the wisdom of the people will prevail,” he said.
Abdullah also hit out at the BJP, saying it can’t be a coincidence that within minutes of Mehbooba Mufti staking claim, the order to dissolve the assembly suddenly appears.
The PDP and NC leaders said they had been pressing for assembly dissolution for the last five months, but their pleas fell on deaf ears”.
