Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Saturday, November 24, revealed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted him to make Sajjad Lone the chief minister of the state.
“I want to make it clear, if I would have agreed to comply with the Centre’s order, Sajjad Lone could have formed the government (in Jammu and Kashmir) and I would have gone down in history as a dishonest person. But, I ended that matter. I am convinced that what I did was right,” said Malik while speaking at the convocation ceremony of ITM University, Gwalior.
Governor of J&K quotes controversy. Heard saying in a speech that ‘’if he had looked towards delhi then he would have had to let Sajad Lone form the government & be known as a dishonest man”. pic.twitter.com/ETanuytirr
— Shuja-ul-haq (@ShujaUH) November 27, 2018
Lone, the son of former separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone, has joined hands with the saffron party. He is the chairman of Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference. “We staked the claim as we had the numbers. Had there been a floor test or had we been told to bring in the numbers, then what is within the purview of the constitution would have happened,” Lone told ANI.
On November 21, with the support of the BJP and more than 18 other lawmakers, he staked claim to form a government in the state.
The same night, the governor dissolved the Assembly, minutes after People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti sought to form the government in the state by posting a letter on Twitter, with the support of Congress and National Conference (NC).
Mufti, after failing to reach out to the Governor SP Malik over phone, had tried to fax the letter to stake claim for government formation.
Have been trying to send this letter to Rajbhavan. Strangely the fax is not received. Tried to contact HE Governor on phone. Not available. Hope you see it @jandkgovernor pic.twitter.com/wpsMx6HTa8
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 21, 2018
Malik’s bizarre justification for the events was, “My office was shut coz of Eid so I got no communication from Mehbooba Mufti She could have approached me any other day. On a holiday none was sitting next to fax machine.”