Modi govt wanted Sajjad Lone as J&K CM: Guv Satya Pal Malik

Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Tuesday, November 27, said he would have had to let Peoples Conference leader Sajad Lone form a government if he had taken hints from Centre.

"I want to make it clear once again. If I had looked at Centre, I would have had to make a government of Lone and I would have been known in the history as a dishonest (beimaan) man," the Governor reportedly said at an event here on November 24.

"That's why I ended the issue. Those who want to abuse me, they will keep abusing. But I am convinced that what I have done was right," Malik said, defending his decision to dissolve the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

Later, talking to CNN News 18, Malik said that whatever he did was right.

"Sajad Lone had the numbers, obviously the Centre will push for him," he said, rejecting the claims that the Centre interfered in the decision to dissolve the Assembly.

The Governor claimed that PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah made no "serious" efforts to get in touch with him.

He had also claimed that the PDP did not have the numbers to form government, citing that the party had not submitted any letter of support from the NC or the Congress party.

He had said, “If PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti and NC leader Omar Abdullah were serious about forming a government (by joining hands) in Jammu and Kashmir, they should have rung me up, or sent me a letter.”

On November 21, the Governor dissolved the Assembly after the PDP staked claim to form a government along with the Congress and with the outside backing of the National Conference.

In no time, Sajad Lone made a counter claim to power with the backing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and rebel Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLAs.