Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Governor, Satya Pal Malik, on Thursday said that he dissolved the State Assembly in the interest of the State and its people and in view of possible horse trading and threats to MLA’s.
“I acted according to the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and dissolved the Assembly in the State’s interest,” he said at a press conference in winter capital Jammu.
The Governor said, “When I came here, I had said that I won’t allow underhand and defection government. I wanted to have an elected government in the State to which I had had no objection,” he said. However, the Governor claimed that for the last fifteen to twenty days he had had reports about the horse-trading taking place in the state.
“MLAs were being threatened and there were a lot of under hand works going on. (former chief minister and PDP president) Mehbooba Mufti called on me a week ago and said that her MLAs are being threatened by NIA”, he said. He added, “Some other political parties said that the party leaders were lured by the money... so horse trading had started twenty days ago”.
“Now whosoever I would have given the chance, there would have been horse-trading at a large scale, which ultimately would have finished the political system of the state the way it’s happening in the other states. I wouldn’t have afforded that at any cost.” The Governor said that he wanted elections to take place in the State and an elected government put in place.
Asked about the non-functioning of the fax machine at Raj Bhavan in Jammu resulting in his office not receiving letters from PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone, he said “Wednesday was Eid. Two persons who run my office being devout Muslims were on leave. Even my cook was not working. They (political parties) should know it was a gazetted holiday yesterday”.
