PDP, BJP may shake hands but hiccups remain

Srinagar/Jammu, Jan 1: The PDP and the BJP, the two largest groups in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, said Thursday they were prepared to form a government amid signs of problems in stitching an alliance. A day after a Peoples Democratic Party delegation met Governor N.N. Vohra, a BJP team called on him Thursday briefly and then said that it was committed to giving the state a stable government. A PDP leader told IANS that channels of communication were open between the two parties. "But a structured dialogue is yet to start," PDP spokesman Naeem Akhtar said. BJP state president Jugul Kishore said earlier that the BJP was committed to forming a stable government in the troubled state. And he added that formal talks on establishing a coalition with the PDP were set to begin.