The BJP office in Delhi after the results of Assembly elections were declared on Tuesday.
The BJP's crushing defeat in the Delhi assembly elections will not have any effect on the government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, its prospective partner in the state, the People's Democratic Party, has said.
Jammu and Kashmir has been under Governor's Rule following a fractured mandate in the assembly elections held last year. The alliance talks between the two have been on a standstill due to the Delhi elections.
"Delhi elections and the government formation here are not connected," said PDP chief spokesman Naeem Akhtar today.
At the same time, he pointed out the importance of the people's will. "This is a loud and clear message to all political parties that people are supreme. They have shown it time and again, and they have had their reasons for it," he said.
The PDP won 28 seats in the 87-member assembly, mostly from Kashmir. The BJP won 25 seats from Jammu and Ladakh. While an alliance between the two parties will make for a representative government, the supporters of either may not be too pleased by the tie-up.
There are certain issues on which the two parties traditionally don't see eye to eye.
While exploring a possible alliance, the PDP made a number of demands - including initiation of talks with Pakistan and Kashmiri separatists, a timeline on the revocation of the controversial Armed Forces' Special Powers Act and the non-revocation of Constitution's Article 370, which grants special powers to the state.
The BJP has had a different stance of the demands for years.
But in the recent election for four seats in Rajya Sabha, the BJP won just one seat in face of PDP's two, two, giving the upper hand to the regional party. And now, the results in Delhi is expected to further affect its bargaining power.
Today, as political rivals took a swipe at the BJP after the Delhi results, National Conference chief Omar Abdullah joined them, pointing out that now the Delhi polls were over, it was time to look at the government formation in Jammu and Kashmir.