Since BJP did not convey its position, Governor’s Rule was imposed in the state.
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“PDP’s ideology is whatever Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has stated and whatever decision including his decision to have alliance with the BJP Mufti has taken will be taken to the logical conclusion”, says PDP youth wing leader Wahid Parra. From our side, we are open to continuing the arrangement (with the PDP) but Mehbooba Muftiji will have to be forthcoming.
79-year-old Sayeed died on Thursday after a brief illness and since then there is a Constitutional vacuum.
Asked if Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s call on Mehbooba at Srinagar yesterday was fraught with political significance, a source resorted to grandstanding and claimed the BJP leaders too were “second to none” in showing up at various places to condole the PDP leader.
Gandhi was accompanied by party leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, a former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and now a parliamentarian, and Ambika Soni.
“There is disquiet within the party on the lack of outreach from the BJP’s top leadership to the PDP, especially during Mufti Sahab’s illness and even after his death”, said a senior aide of Ms. Mehbooba.
As suspense mounted over government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah tonight ruled out the party’s unilateral support to PDP from outside in any new dispensation with Congress backing.
“Anyone who tells me the visuals of Mehbooba at her father’s grave today were of a woman calculating political chess moves is delusional”, he said.
Both Gadkari and Sonia Gandhi are scheduled to return to New Delhi on Sunday. He included, “We regard the best of Mufti Sahib’s surviving group to mourn his death”. “I hope things will continue to function smoothly between BJP and PDP as they have been during the 10-month tenure of the alliance”, Dr Singh, who participated in the Rasm-e-Chahrum of Sayeed in Bijbehara, said. He, too, said, “It is no time to talk politics”. The PDP has formed coalition governments with the Congress in the past. While, discussions are ripe over whether or not Mehbooba is interested to take the charge, sources claimed today that, she is still reluctant.
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Paying tributes to Mufti, Singh said Sayeed’s endeavour was to provide good governance to Jammu and Kashmir.
