BJP-PDP Alliance: Day After Coalition Crash, Governors Rule In Jammu And Kashmir

Mehbooba Mufti submitted her resignation to Governor NN Vohra soon after the coalition collapsed.

Highlights

Mehbooba Mufti resigned as chief minister soon after BJP's announcement
BJP pulled out of its alliance with PDP on Tuesday
Centre's refusal to extend Ramzan ceasefire widened PDP-BJP rift

New Delhi/Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir is under Governor's rule for the fourth time in the last 10 years after the BJP ended its coalition government with Mehbooba Mufti's People's Democratic Party (PDP), saying it was "untenable" to continue because of security concerns and rising terrorism. A stunned Mehbooba Mufti resigned as Chief Minister shortly after the BJP's announcement on Tuesday afternoon. Governor NN Vohra later recommended central rule to President Ram Nath Kovind, who was mid-air, on his way to Suriname, when the report went to him. When the president landed around 3 am IST (6.30 pm local time), he had the report. His sign-off came at 6 am.

Here are the top 10 updates on the Jammu and Kashmir political crisis:

NN Vohra, the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir since 2008 and a former Kashmir interlocutor, is seen to be the most experienced man to take charge in the crisis. In his 10 years in the state, Governor's Rule was imposed thrice.
The Governor held a security review meeting this afternoon, making it his top priority after the ruling BJP at the centre talked about the "deteriorating security situation" in the state.
The next few days may see a spike in anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir. Home Minister Rajnath Singh had recently declared that the Ramzan ceasefire announced last month would not be extended any longer.
The state's top police officer SP Vaid told NDTV: "Operations will continue. Only thing was in between, during this (ceasefire) period, the operations were stopped. They were going on earlier also, but we will intensify these operations in the days to come. And it would be, I think, much easier to work."
The centre had grudgingly gone along with Mehbooba Mufti's idea of a unilateral ceasefire for the month of Ramzan as a peace initiative. The union Home Ministry assesses that instead of letting up, terrorists backed by Pakistan, seized the chance to intensify attacks.
The centre's refusal to extend the ceasefire - during which senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari was killed by terrorists in the heart of Srinagar - broke an alliance already weighed down by the conflicting ideologies of alliance partners BJP and PDP.
Over the past three years of the BJP-PDP rule, the rift widened amid disagreements over the handling of the aftermath of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani's killing, the gang-rape and killing of an eight-year-old in Kathua, the policy towards stone-throwing protesters and the Ramzan ceasefire.
When the BJP finally decided to yank support from the Mehbooba Mufti government, the call to the Chief Minister came from Governor Vohra, not the BJP.
Mehbooba Mufti told reporters after quitting: "I am not shocked as this alliance was never for power. PDP never believes in power politics and we worked for the people." Defending her rule, she also said a "muscular policy will not work in Jammu and Kashmir".
Her predecessor Omar Abdullah of the National Conference said he had advised her to walk out of the coalition but she didn't listen, and as a result, "had the rug pulled from her under her feet". Mr Abdullah said he would not try to form a government or even offer an alliance with the PDP as that was a "one-time offer to keep the BJP out."