BJP calls it quits; pulls out of alliance with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has quit the ruling alliance in Jammu and Kashmir, a senior leader said on Tuesday, taking a veiled dig at chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party in the wake of a surge in violence in the militancy-hit state.

“It has become untenable for the BJP to continue in the alliance,” party leader Ram Madhav said. He did not, however, name Mufti or the PDP in his address to the press.

Ram Madhav said the Centre’s ruling BJP did everything feasible for the development of the state, which has been on the boil since the killing of a militant leader two years ago.

Madhav backed his party’s decision to tie-up with the PDP after the 2015 assembly polls, stressing the BJP’s objectives were to restore peace and encourage fast development.

“Keeping in mind the larger interest of India's integrity and to bring the deteriorating situation in the state under control, it would be apt to hand over the governance to the governor of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.