BJP must back J-K dialogue as Cong did: Beig

Beig, who raised a political storm in the Valley when he invited Vajpayee to contest elections from the state, said Vajpayee’s rating among Kashmiris is still high. ‘‘It was the BJP-led NDA which initiated the dialogue and Congress backed it fully. Now it’s the turn of BJP to lend the same level of support to Congress to the dialogue process,’’ he added.

The Finance Minister also hopes to see separatist leaders, fighting shy of the talks, being invited to the table. ‘‘We hope Congress will broaden the scope of the dialogue with Kashmiri separatist leaders and Vajpayee will also extend his full support on these steps,’’ he said.

Beig said ties between the PDP and Congress would only become stronger now. Hitting out at the Opposition NC, he asked Farooq Abdullah to desist from destabilising the coalition government as the break-up of the LS results suggest that PDP has gained.

‘‘During these elections, we have won 23 Assembly segments which is more than what we had won in the 2002 Assembly elections. NC should stop wrong propaganda about our government and learn a lesson as they have lost more Assembly segments as compared to last time,’’ Beig said.

But signs of strong relations between the Congress and PDP don’t reflect in the statements of Congress leaders, who insist the party won’t tolerate PDP’s high handedness in coalition affairs.

‘‘Coalition should not be one-sided and it must not be seen to be run by PDP. We are the big brother in the coalition and we would play a big role now. The bitter experiences of the past illustrated by Baramulla seat controversy must serve a lesson to us,’’ said Congress vice-president Abdul Gani Vakil.