Amit Shah says, “The Modi government sent several financial packages for the state, including a Rs 60,000 crore package. Prime Minister Narendra Modi came here over a dozen times. But Jammu and Ladakh were discriminated against.

“If development (in the state) is not balanced and Jammu does not progress, then we decided cannot be part of this (state) government,” he says.

“Under the PDP government, a newspaper editor was murdered. Children took up stone-pelting. Attacks on army and security forces increased. We could not be part of such a government,” Shah says.