SRINAGAR: The sudden dissolution of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly by Governor Satya Pal Malik amid high drama on Wednesday night saw two top political leaders and arch-rivals - PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference's Omar Abdullah - agreeing on one issue - the lack of fax machine at the Raj Bhavan.
Mufti and Abdullah took to Twitter and exchanged views over the ''fax machine'' and even discussed gifting the J&K Governor's house a new one.
Touche! On a lighter note, perhaps they should do away with fax machines and allow official communication via whatsapp. Or maybe we should just gift them a new one.
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 21, 2018
It may be recalled that PDP chief had earlier on Wednesday staked the claim to form government with the support of the Congress and the National Conference.
In a letter to the Governor, Mehbooba claimed that the PDP is the largest party in the state assembly having a strength of 29 MLAs.
"You might have gathered from the media reports that the Congress and the National Conference have also decided to extend support to our party to form a government in the state. The National Conference has a strength of 15 MLAs and the Congress 12. That takes our collective strength to 56,'' she said in her letter.
"Since I am presently in Srinagar, it would not be possible for me to call on you immediately and this is to keep you informed that we would be seeking your convenience shortly to stake the claim for forming the government in the state," Mehbooba said.
However, taking to Twitter later, Mufti informed that she had been trying to send the letter to the Raj Bhavan but ''strangely'' the fax was not received. The PDP chief said that she even tried to contact the Governor on phone but he was not available.
In another tweet, Mufti confirmed that she was sending the letter to the Governor by mail.
Within minutes of Mufti staking claim to form the government, People's Conference leader Sajad Lone too staked claim to form the government with the help of the 25-member BJP.
As the events unfolded, Governor Satya Pal Malik ordered the dissolution of the state's assembly – a move which evoked a sharp response from various political parties.
It was at this point that the Omar Abdullah tweeted ''that it can’t be a coincidence that within minutes of Mehbooba Mufti Sahiba's letter staking claim the order to dissolve the assembly suddenly appears.''
In a series of Twitter exchange later, both Mufti and Omar expressed concerns that ''the fax machine at the Governor’s residence didn’t receive their fax but swiftly issued one regarding the assembly dissolution.''
While Mufti thanked Abdullah and Congress party for help in achieving "the seemingly impossible", the NC leader wished her ''good luck for the battle ahead.''
