‘There Was Massive Horse Trading, Can’t Have Unstable Government’: J&K Governor Justifies Assembly Dissolution

Under attack from Opposition for his decision to dissolve the Jammu and Kashmir assembly on Wednesday (21 November), Governor Satya Pal Malik has said that rampant horse-trading of MLAs had been going on in the state, The Hindu has reported.

Malik stated, “For the past 15 to 20 days, I have been getting reports of large-scale horse-trading. MLAs are being threatened and several types of underhanded dealings are going on.”

He said that he was acting in the interest of the State and Indian constitution, not on Centre’s behest. He added that it was practically impossible for parties with opposing political ideologies to form the government.

He revealed that PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti had complained to him about her MLAs being harassed using the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the other side had alleged that their MLAs had been offered large sums of money. “Horse-trading has been going on for 20 days,” he added.

He explained that if he had gone ahead with the government formation process, it would have only resulted in an unstable government in Jammu and Kashmir.

“We would have altered this situation, had we given an unstable government. An opportunist government would have been the outcome of this process. We never wanted instability in a sensitive State,” Mr. Malik said.

Also read: Scrapping J&K Assembly Was Least-Bad Option; Courts Should Let It Pass