President Ram Nath Kovind today approved the imposition of governor’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir, a day after the BJP pulled out of its alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir.
Following the President’s approval, governor NN Vohra will be presiding over the state. He’s doing do for the fourth time, having overseen governor’s rule in 2008, 2015 and 2016. Vohra was set to complete his second term in a few days, butis now set to continue in Raj Bhavan at least till the conclusion of ‘Amarnath Yatra’ on August 26.
The BJP pulled out the alliance saying it was “untenable” to continue.
“It has become untenable for the BJP to continue its alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir, hence we are withdrawing,” BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said at a press conference this afternoon.
With J&K having a provision for governor’s rule for six months, the BJP leadership is keen to let this period run as close to the end of 2018 as possible. The calculation is that if the six months ended in December, it would be too close to the Lok Sabha elections to be scheduled ahead of the national polls. The electoral process for the Lok Sabha is expected to begin to unroll from March onward.
Sources told J&K could be followed by President’s rule and this would also delay the assembly election. But the conversion of governor’s rule to President’s rule would need ratification by Parliament.