In a new twist to the stalemate over government formation in J&K, several political and social organisations have appealed to people that they fight for a separate Jammu state if the PDP, National Conference and Congress join hands to keep BJP out of the new government.

Jammu Kashmir National Panthers Party president and former MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia said people of Jammu voted not only for change, but also for a CM from the region. Mankotia, who was sitting MLA from Udhampur, lost to an Independent candidate.

“As this is the first time in the history of J&K that BJP has got 25 seats in the Assembly from Jammu, the new CM shall be from the region,’’ he said, adding that otherwise people should get ready to struggle for a “separate Jammu state as an ultimate solution to end discrimination with the area”.

Ram Sena president Rajiv Mahajan said a government formed by a “grand alliance” between PDP, National Conference and Congress would be “dangerous to the interests of Jammu and Ladakh regions’’. He added that the two regions have been the “worst victims of discrimination at the hands of successive governments’’, especially the NC and Congress. “If such a grand alliance comes to power negating the historic mandate of the people of the region, then a separate Jammu state is the only option for fulfilment of their

aspirations,’’ he added.

The Movement for Peace, Equality and Justice asked the PDP and BJP to join hands and form the government, acknowledging the will of people from both provinces of the state. The outfit’s leaders said people will not forgive them if they failed to work for the larger interest of people in both provinces.

They accused Congress and the NC of “crying hoarse about pseudo secularism’’, saying that people taught them a lesson in the polls.

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