Srinagar, July 10
Jammu and Kashmir was tonight brought under Governor’s rule and the state assembly dissolved, three days after Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned following the Amarnath land transfer row.
Azad resigned on Monday without facing a confidence vote on the floor of the assembly following withdrawal of support by his coalition partner, the PDP, which protested transfer of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board, reducing the Congress-led government to a minority.
The fresh assembly polls in the state are due in October as the term of the present House expires on November 2. The imposition of the Governor’s rule came after Governor N.N. Vohra held consultations with leaders of all major political parties in the state yesterday on the future course of action.
With little possibility of formation of an alternative government given the strength of the major political parties, the National Conference and the PDP, the Raj Bhawan had no option but to clamp Governor’s rule.
Both Omar Abdullah, president of the National Conference, the single largest party in the state assembly, and the PDP, whose withdrawal of support over the Amarnath land transfer controversy led to the fall of Azad ministry, had ruled out entering into any formation with any party to avoid Governor’s rule.
This is the fourth time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir that the state would be brought under the Governor's rule and for the first time in the last 12 years.
The state came under Governor's rule in 1977 when Congress withdrew support to the minority government of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.
— PTI
