PDP-BJP stakes claim for J&K govt formation

PDP president and chief ministerial candidate Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday met Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra and staked claim for government formation.

The date for the swearing in, however, was not decided. Sources said Mehbooba was likely to take over the reins of power of the sensitive border state in the first week of April.

An official spokesman said Mehbooba, accompanied by Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Tariq Hameed Karra, PDP MPs and Nirmal Singh, leader of the BJP Legislature Party, called on Vohra at the Raj Bhawan.

“The leaders of the two parties handed over separate letters to the governor. Mehbooba and Singh informed the governor that they were engaged in discussions and would very soon intimate to him about the mutually convenient date on which the coalition government could be installed,” he said.

Talking to reporters after she came out of Raj Bhawan, Mehbooba, who will be the first woman chief minister of the state, said: “The vision of (the late) Mufti Mohammad Sayeed will be fulfilled with renewed vigour by our government. Mufti Sahib’s vision of development and peace will be fulfilled by the coalition government to be headed by me.”

On her meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week, she said Jammu and Kashmir was not like any other state, it has social, political and economic needs.

 “The prime minister has assured his complete support to the government for peace, reconciliation and development to make Jammu and Kashmir a showcase window for the whole world.”

It was Mehbooba’s meeting with Modi on Wednesday that broke the deadlock that had persisted for more than two-and-half months since the death of then chief minister and her father.

She thanked the BJP for its “unconditional support” over government formation. 

DH News Service