While senior BJP leader Raghubir Das remains the frontrunner for the Chief Minister’s post in Jharkhand, all the parties are looking for various options in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Congress is making efforts to keep the BJP out of power in J&K, while the BJP has deployed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to explore all the options in the State. The BJP parliamentary board has designated him and party national secretary Arun Singh as observers for the BJP’s legislative party meeting. Jaitley is likely to hold discussions with the leaders of other parties too when he is in Srinagar.
“They will hold a meeting of the BJP legislature party that will elect its leader in Jammu and Kashmir,” Health Minister JP Nadda told reporters here on Wednesday, after a meeting of the parliamentary board. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
Nadda and party vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe will leave for Ranchi to observe the election of the legislature party leader in Jharkhand. A section in the BJP, however, feels the CM”s post should go to a tribal. As the BJP’s top leader Arjun Munda lost from both the seats, the name of veteran parliamentarian and former minister Kariya Munda is doing the rounds.
Nadda said the formation of governments in both the States is likely to be over within a week. “The BJP parliamentary board today discussed the election results in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand and expressed a great sense of satisfaction,” he said, adding that the party will look at all options in J&K.
The Congress has reached out to both the National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to determine the chances of forming a “secular” government. There are indications that the PDP is not too keen on support from the NC to form government.