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Mehbooba Mufti takes oath as first woman CM of J&K

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Mehbooba Mufti

Jammu: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday took oath as Jammu and Kashmir’s first woman chief minister, heading a 22-member ministry with the BJP as the junior ally.

Mehbooba Mufti, 56 and now a Lok Sabha member, was sworn in by Governor N.N. Vohra here, almost three months after the state came under Governor’s Rule on January 8.

The Peoples Democratic Party has nine cabinet and three junior ministers — the chief minister included — and the Bharatiya Janata Party has eight cabinet and two junior ministers in the new government.

BJP leader Nirmal Singh remains the deputy chief minister.

The new coalition takes office after three months of political uncertainty sparked by the death on January 7 of then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

The PDP dropped two cabinet ministers — Altaf Bukhari and Javaid Mustafa Mir and inducted three-time legislator Zahoor Mir.

The BJP dropped cabinet minister Chaudary Sukhnandan and brought in his place Shyam Lal Chaudhary. The BJP also dropped a junior minister, Pawan Gupta.

The BJP share of cabinet ministers includes People’s Conference leader Sajjad Lone, son of separatist politician Abdul Ghani Lone.

Mehbooba Mufti is the 13th chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state.

(IANS)

Mehbooba Mufti to be J&K’s first woman CM; BJP’s Nirmal Singh to be her deputy

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Mehbooba Mufti

Jammu: The BJP on Friday elected Nirmal Singh as its leader in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly and nominated him for the deputy chief minister’s post in the new PDP-BJP alliance government to be headed by PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti.

Speaking after BJP legislators met here, state BJP president Sat Pal Sharma said: “The BJP legislature party has elected Nirmal Singh as its leader and nominated him for the deputy chief minister’s post in the new coalition government.”

Mr. Sharma also said the BJP had decided to extend support to Mehbooba Mufti, daughter of former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, to head the PDP-BJP government in the state.

Nirmal Singh also served as the deputy chief minister in the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led PDP-BJP coalition that was in office for 10 months till Sayeed died on January 7.

Jammu and Kashmir has been under Governor’s Rule since January 8.

Besides the BJP legislators, Jitendra Singh, the minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, and Ram Madhav, general secretary in the Bharatiya Janata Party in charge of Jammu and Kashmir affairs, attended the meeting.

Informed sources said those at the meeting were apprised by Ram Madhav about the recent developments, including the Tuesday meeting in New Delhi between PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The BJP reiterated that no fresh conditions (by PDP) had been accepted and the alliance with the PDP will continue on the basis of the agenda of alliance signed (earlier) by the two parties,” a BJP source told IANS.

Jitendra Singh represents the Kathua-Udhampur Lok Sabha seat for the BJP in the Lok Sabha.

He informed that a BJP-PDP joint coordination committee will meet before the PDP and BJP separately meet Governor N.N. Vohra on Friday.

If and when she takes oath, Mehbooba Mufti will be the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

(Agencies)

Mehbooba Mufti set to be next chief minister of J&K

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Mehbooba Mufti

Srinagar: Mehbooba Mufti is all set to become the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, after she was unanimously nominated as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the post, sources said.

The PDP nominated Mehbooba, 56, as the legislature party leader and thus cleared decks for her to succeed her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who died in January, as the chief minister of the state.

The sources said Mehbooba’s name to head the PDP in the state assembly was proposed by senior party leader Muzaffar Hussain Beigh and was seconded by his senior colleague Abdur Rehman Veeri.

The decision came as the party held a crucial meeting of its lawmakers who had gathered to discuss the government formation in the state. It was a constitutional requirement before Mehbooba stakes claim to power in India’s only Muslim majority state.

She presently represents south Kashmir’s Anantnag constituency in the Lok Sabha. She will now have to get elected to either house of the state’s bicameral legislature and also resign her Lok Sabha seat.

Jammu and Kashmir has been without an elected government after Mehbooba’s father died in a Delhi hospital on January 7.

She was tipped to take over the reins soon but she dragged her feet on continuing to ally with the BJP and wanted it to redraw the alliance terms that had father had authored. After remaining entrenched in their respective positions for more than two months, the two partners warmed up to each other following Mufti’s meeting with Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday in Delhi.

(IANS)

Had positive meeting with PM, says Mehbooba

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Mehbooba Mufti

New Delhi: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said she had a “positive meeting” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.

“It has been a positive meeting with PM and I will go back to Srinagar and take the next step,” Mufti told the media outside the Prime Minister’s official residence at 7 Race Course Road.

“I am content after meeting PM,” she added.

“Stalemate (in J&K) has been continuing since two-three months. I feel positive after this meeting,” said Mehbooba, daughter of late chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayed.

She also said that she has called for a legislature party meeting on Thursday and will take further decision there.

(Agencies)

Mehbooba Mufti, bereaved daughter who stands tall in mourning

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Mehbooba Mufti

“Nobody can even remotely suggest to her that she break her mourning and be sworn in (as the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister). Suggesting that to a son would be easier, but Mehbooba Mufti has lost her father, ideal in life and best friend in Mufti sahib”, these words of a family friend suggests the 56-year-old Mehbooba is going to be a tough customer for both PDP cadres and allies in the days to come.

She is reputed to have pulled her father out of political hibernation in 1999 when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was formed.

Even before that, Mehbooba Mufti had been a great emotional support for her father.

Mehbooba had to IANS in an exclusive interview in 2014: “In 1996, Mufti sahib was told by the Congress high command that if it could not field a candidate from our Bijbehara hometown for elections that would be a huge embarrassment.

“Militancy was at its peak and nobody was prepared to stick his neck out. I filed my papers and went out of the Valley. That is when my political baptism happened.”

Baptized in the fire of Kashmir’s violent times, Mehbooba Mufti has proved her nerve by refusing to be sworn in before the traditional Islamic four-day period of her father’s mourning ends.

Insiders said when BJP general secretary Ram Madhav met her Friday to express his condolences at the chief minister’s high security Gupkar Road residence, she politely told him she was in no frame of mind to discuss politics when the family was in mourning.

The state’s top bureaucrats, including the chief secretary and the principal secretary to the chief minister, were also told the same thing when they called on her Friday.

Family sources said she has been spending most of her time with her mother. “Tears well up each time somebody alludes to the times of her father.”

Family sources said she has been spending most of her time with her mother. “Tears well up each time somebody alludes to the times of her father.”

As constitutional experts keep arguing whether the absence of a government in Jammu and Kashmir is a constitutional crisis or not, for Mehbooba Mufti, politics comes much after the love and respect has for her father.

As constitutional experts keep arguing whether the absence of a government in Jammu and Kashmir is a constitutional crisis or not, for Mehbooba Mufti, politics comes much after the love and respect has for her father.

The decks already seem to have been cleared for her swearing-in by Monday or later next week.

Governor, N.N. Vohra has faxed letters to both the PDP and the BJP to “urgently” come forward with proposals about government formation in the state. This is legally the last ditch effort by Vohra to avoid imposition of a short spell of governor’s rule in the state.

Senior PDP leader and constitutional expert, Muzaffar Hussain Beigh said there is no constitutional crisis in the state as the death of the chief minister does not mean the breakdown of the administrative machinery.

“There is no constitutional crisis. We have a constitutional mechanism through which the state governor can run the affairs of governance through bureaucrats without appointing any advisors for the intervening period”, Beigh told reporters.

Reports also suggest the BJP state leadership is seeking a better bargain in the new political arrangement with the PDP once Mehbooba Mufti takes over the reins of governance.

Dismissing any give-or-take before Mehbooba Mufti takes over, Beigh said: “The rules of the game cannot be changed because Mufti sahib has passed away.”

Notwithstanding what senior party leaders like Beigh and others say about the political posturing by the two ruling alliance partners, those who know Mehbooba say she would not even discuss any climbing down from the terms agreed to by her father and the BJP high command.

“The large heartedness of Mufti sahib owed itself to his long years of experience and political grooming. Mehboobaji has always been unrelenting in her approach to politics.

“Remember, when Mufti sahib was away in the US in 2008, it was Mehbooba Mufti who took the hard decision to pull out of the alliance headed by Ghulam Nabi Azad,” said a senior minister in the government headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

(IANS)

Mufti Sayeed to head 25-member cabinet in J&K; PM to attend his swearing-in on March 1

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Mufti Mohammad Sayeed

New Delhi: PDP patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed will head a 25-member cabinet, half of it from BJP, in Jammu and Kashmir and the swearing-in ceremony on Sunday in Jammu will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

With the PDP-BJP deal sealed after ironing out differences over contentions issues like Article 370 and AFSPA, 79-year- old Sayeed, who will be sworn in as Chief Minister, met the Prime Minister today, capping two-month long hard negotiations between the two parties on government formation.

According to highly-placed sources, Sayeed will be heading a 25-member cabinet which will have 12 BJP MLAs including a Deputy Chief Minister post. This is the first time that BJP is in the government in the state.

Accompanied by chief interlocutor of PDP Haseeb Drabu, Sayeed had a nearly one-hour long meeting with Modi during which he extended invitation to the PM for attending the swearing-in ceremony at Jammu on March one.

Modi and Sayeed were all smiles as they hugged and posed for cameras with their photographs trending on social networks within minutes.

“I have extended invitation to the Prime Minister for attending the ceremony and he has agreed,” Sayeed told reporters after the meeting at PM’s official residence at 7, Race Course Road.

He refused to answer any specific questions on controversial issues like Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) or Article 370 and said the Common Minimum programme (CMP) will be announced at 3 PM on Sunday.

He said lot of discussions have taken place for the past two months to forge a common ground, a common agenda. He equated the PDP-BJP coalition with “bringing together of North Pole with South Pole”.

“The mandate of election is clear that PDP is the choice of people in Kashmir and BJP in Jammu. So we decided that we will unite together to give a government which will give all round development to all the regions in the state,” he said.

“It was discussed how a stable government should be formed. The PDP was of the view that we should not allow the opportunity to go waste as it was a historic opportunity with the government at the Centre that has a clear mandate of people to deliver,” he said.

Sayeed, who will be returning to power after a gap of more than nine years, backed Modi’s slogan, saying, “I also want Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas (development for all).” He was the Chief Minister of the state from November, 2002 to 2005.

When asked about Article 370 which gives special status to the state and AFSPA, Sayeed said, “Leave these issues. These are not issues. We have to do all this (hame karna padta hai)…All this will come in the Common Minimum Programme which will be announced after the swearing-in.”

Asked whether PDP was joining NDA at the Centre, Sayeed said, “it is too early to say that. Ministers will be decided soon. We have found common ground.”

To a question whether the CMP was for governance or for political alliance, he said, “It (the alliance) is both for political and governance. First political and then governance. When political atmosphere will be right then only governance will take place.”

Questioned whether it is a tough road ahead, Sayeed said, “I think it is alright. The PM also has a vision. I think he also understands that it (the alliance) has to be made to work.”

“Both regions (Kashmir and Jammu) should be brought together. On external dimension (mending ties with Pakistan), policy of Atal Bihari Vajpayee should be carried forward. Modiji has agreed,” he said.

The PDP patron said he aims to give a “healing touch” as anguish in one part of the huge country is not a good thing.

“My view was that an opportunity has come that Jammu region and Kashmir region will come together. If BJP got mandate in Jammu and PDP in Kashmir Valley, therefore they have got support of people. There is credibility. When they will merge, it will be dejure. It takes six hours from Jammu to the Valley, but opportunity is there to connect hearts and minds of people,” he said.

Sayeed said second aspect is when former Prime Minister Vajpayee visited Kashmir in 2002-03, he started a journey of friendship in Srinagar.

“He extended a hand of friendship towards Pakistan, saying we can change friends but not our neighbours. So (the then Pakistan President Pervez) Musharraf also responded. It is the dream of the Prime Minister and mine to develop Kashmir as an ‘island of peace’. So, in that process, it is necessary to engage Pakistan,” he said.

“….so I want to repeat history. Today, the Prime Minister has mandate of the people. He has got full legitimacy to deliver,” he said.

The December 23 election results saw a highly-fractured mandate with PDP emerging as single-largest party with 28 MLAs followed by BJP with 25. Erstwhile allies National Conference and Congress ended with 15 and 12 seats respectively.

BJP and PDP, which have been in negotiations for nearly two months now, have sorted out all the differences over Article 370, Armed Forces Special Powers Act, resettlement of West Pakistan Refugees and holding of talks with Pakistan and separatist leaders of the state.

(PTI)

PDP, BJP reach agreement to form coalition govt in J&K

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Mufti Mohammad Sayeed

Srinagar: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed will be the Kashmir chief minister after his party reached an agreement for forming a government with Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), top party sources said on Saturday.

Sources close to PDP patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, who returned to winter capital Jammu Friday after spending a week in Mumbai, told IANS an agreement had been reached on all contentious issues between the PDP and the BJP.

“Yes, main agreement has been reached on the draft of the CMP (common minimum programme) on contentious issues like article 370, armed forces special powers act (AFSPA) and the plight of West Pakistan refugees.

“It has been agreed that without any written reference to it, both the parties would respect the wishes of the people of the state in consonance with the constitution of the country with regard to article 370,” a top party source told IANS.

As per the agreement, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed will be the chief minister for the full six years.

The PDP insider who is engaged with the BJP in the dialogue process on government formation on behalf of his party also said instead of accepting the demand that the AFSPA should be revoked from the entire state within one year, it has now been agreed by the two parties that a committee would be formed which would recommend gradual, but timely, revocation of the act from areas in the state.

Sources in the BJP said: “The PDP has agreed to the BJP demand that the CMP should accept that the problems faced by West Pakistan refugees should not be politicized, but treated as a humanitarian issue that needs to be addressed on humanitarian grounds.”

When asked to comment on media reports that government formation in the state was imminent because the PDP and the BJP had agreed on the draft of the common minimum programme (CMP) for governance, party chief spokesman Naeem Akhtar told IANS in winter capital Jammu: “I am meeting Mufti Sahib today and if anything has been worked out, we will hold a briefing about it during the day.”

Unlike his steady dismissal of any agreement with the BJP during the last nearly two months when he maintained the “structured dialogue between the BJP and the PDP had not even started”, Akhtar sounded less circumspect Saturday about his lack of knowledge regarding an agreement on the common minimum programme with the BJP.

West Pakistan refugees are those over 25,000 families who came to the state after the India-Pakistan wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971.

Since these people were not citizens of the erstwhile state of Kashmir as it existed before accession to India in 1947, they cannot vote in the state assembly elections, nor buy property in the state.

These refugees cannot apply for government jobs since all the state government jobs in Kashmir are reserved for permanent residents of the state.

As an anomaly, the West Pakistan refugees can vote in the parliament elections, but not in the state assembly elections since the state has a constitution of its own in addition to the country’s constitution and both apply concomitantly to the state.

With regard to the PDP demand on return of NHPC owned hydro-electric power projects in the state to state ownership, the sources said it had been agreed that the two would work together for central assistance for state ownership of these projects.

“The nuts and bolts job has been completed. All that now remains is an announcement on the agreement between the two which could be made within the next two to three days,” said sources.

The sources added that Mufti Mohammaad Sayeed would formally call on prime minister Narendra Modi after the PDP and the BJP announce having formalized the draft of the CMP.

(IANS)

PDP, BJP may shake hands but hiccups remain

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“PDP’s priority is not to cobble up a majority for the sake of government formation,” party leader Mehbooba Mufti said in Jammu after meeting Governor N.N. Vohra on Wednesday. Photo: The Hindu

“PDP’s priority is not to cobble up a majority for the sake of government formation,” party leader Mehbooba Mufti said in Jammu after meeting Governor N.N. Vohra on Wednesday. Photo: The Hindu

Srinagar/Jammu: 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.

The PDP agreed, saying Kashmir needed a stable government to surmount the multiple problems it is facing.

“The talks are going to begun, the talks will be held in a congenial atmosphere,” Jugal Kishore said.

The PDP has 28 members in the 87-member hung house and the BJP 25.

“The priority is a stable government,” Kishore said. “We are not in a hurry to form a government.”

He said any coalition government which takes office will be in power for six years until the next election.

On Wednesday, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav greeted PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti’s laudatory reference to former prime minister and the now ailing BJP veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

PDP insiders said Thursday that there were roadblocks that would have to be removed before starting a structured dialogue on power sharing starts between the PDP and the BJP.

“We are in conformity with the BJP on development, tackling corruption and unemployment, and industry and tourism. But the ideological divergence will have to find some meeting ground,” said the source.

The PDP and the BJP appear to realize that the highly polarized verdict — the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley voted for the former and the overwhelmingly Hindu Jammu region voted for the latter — will have to be reconciled and a common minimum programme unveiled.

PDP insiders admit that allowing the differences to remain unresolved could force a spell of Governor’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir.

Neither party has publicly stated what the problems are but sources in both say there are differences over what constitutes the Kashmir problem, as well as whether one party will hold the chief minister’s post for six years or if the post will be shared during the six-year period.

Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, has always had a Muslim chief minister. If the BJP gets to govern the state, it will get a Hindu chief minister.

(IANS)

No end to deadlock on government formation in Kashmir

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mufti-amit-omar

Srinagar: Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Tuesday said no breakthrough is expected in the near future over the formation of new government.

PDP chief spokesperson Naeem Akhtar said no serious conclusion has been drawn so far over the formation of new government and the deadlock is likely to continue.

Mehbooba Mufti Tuesday left for Jammu to meet Governor, N N Vohra, for the government formation. “Don’t expect any breakthrough soon after the meet. She has left for a discussion over the present political scenario that has emerged in the state after the results of the state elections of 2014,” Akhtar said. “The talks with all political parties is going on with no final decision made over the issue.”

“It is an evolving situation and not concrete has come to fore yet. The situation continues to remain the same,” said the spokesperson. “The deadlock is not expected to end in the near future.”

He also maintained that Mehbboba-Vohra meeting should not be expected as the final point in ending the deadlock as the party is yet to take final call over entering into a coalition with any other party. “You cannot term it a final step. The discussions are going on and shall continue till final decision is made,” Akhtar said.

The PDP was part of a coalition that ruled the region between 2002 and 2008. Poll pundits suggest that the party is again likely to form the next government in coalition with other political groups and some independents.

People’s Democratic Party has 28 seats and gained seven seats as compared to the 2008 elections. BJP has gained 14 seats in this time election.

National Conference lost 15 seats and most of them from the summer capital Srinagar. Earlier the party had 28 members but this time the results have squeezed it to mere 15. The Congress got 12 seats in its kitty.

Both the BJP and the PDP benefited from widespread public discontent over the ruling National Conference’s handling of devastating September floods that killed more than 200 people in Kashmir.

(KNS)

Hung verdict puts NC, PDP in quandary

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Omar Abdullah Mehbooba Mufti

Srinagar: The fractured mandate in Jammu and Kashmir has left both NC and arch-rivals PDP caught in a cleft stick — with second-placed BJP appearing to be their sole saviour.

With 15 seats, the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (NC) is out of power, but it has an option of supporting the BJP and thereby keeping its arch-rival the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) out of power for the next six years.

The PDP’s dilemma is even bigger. With 28 seats it has fallen short of its estimated projection of getting closer to 44, the simple majority needed to form the government.

The PDP’s problem is also compounded by the fact that its most likely future ally, the Congress, has got just 12 seats. The two together have only 40 seats — still short of the vaunted mark by four.

The vote count of the staggered five-phase assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir took place Tuesday.

There are seven independents who have won. Two of these are with Sajad Lone’s People’s Conference whose proximity to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is well known.

Barring the PDP, Sajad’s party will support anyone.

Saeed Mohammed Bakir Rizvi, the lone independent candidate from Zanskar constituency of Ladakh region, has won with NC support and cannot support the PDP.

Pawan Kumar Gupta, the lone independent candidate from Udhampur, is a BJP dissident and is likely to return to the party.

Then there is Yusuf Tarigami of the CPM against whom the NC had not fielded a candidate.

This leaves Hakim Yaseen and Engineer Rashid, the other independent candidates who would support any dispensation that provides power to them. Many, however, believe Engineer Rashid might support no alliance.

This leaves just two possibilities, the PDP aligning with the BJP or the NC aligning with the BJP.

The PDP would have to compromise if it is forced to align with the BJP and the most difficult of such a compromise would be the BJP’s push for a Hindu chief minister for at least half the term if the alliance is worked out on a three-year rotational basis.

On the other hand, the NC can keep the PDP out by supporting the BJP, but Omar Abdullah would be the biggest opponent of such a move even if his father, the NC president, Farooq Abdullah advised him to be more friendly to the BJP now that the hype raised against each other by the NC and the BJP during election campaign was over.

It is a catch-22 situation for the NC and the PDP and gives the controlling handle to the BJP that has 25 seats.

Ram Madhav, BJP national general secretary, is arriving here Thursday to spell out his party’s terms to both the NC and the PDP — if either of them is willing to cobble up a ruling alliance with the BJP.

Madhav will first meet Omar Abdullah and later call on Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, the PDP patron.

Omar has left for winter capital Jammu to submit his resignation to Governor N.N. Vohra before he flies back to Srinagar for his meeting with Ram Madhav.

(IANS)

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