Gandhi, who arrived from Delhi, drove straight from the airport to the Fairview residence of Mehbooba in Gupkar here at 3 pm.
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For Mehbooba Mufti, her father’s chosen successor, and the PDP, the underwhelming turnout confirmed their worst fears of an eroding support base. He was beyond party affiliations.
He said that he will meet the party president after she comes out of her shock due to Mufti Sahab’s demise. She represented Congress once in Lok Sabha also.
They said the PDP has demanded abolishing of deputy chief minister post which was held by the BJP in the Mufti-led government, return of power portfolio from the BJP and liberal central funding for the state in the new terms of alliance.
Mr. Azad told journalists that there was “no politics” involved in the visit and that Ms. Gandhi had travelled to Srinagar only to offer her condolences.
BJP general secretary in-charge of J&K Avinash Rai Khanna said they are waiting for PDP to formally elect their Legislature Party leader after which other formalities could be done. Congress earlier shared power with PDP before having a bitter split in 2008.
Vohra had on Friday evening faxed letters to PDP and BJP to “urgently” intimate him about possibilities of government formation in the state.
In Jammu, a Raj Bhavan spokesman said: “After reaching concurrence from the president of India, Governor NN Vohra issued a notification on Saturday to impose Governor’s Rule in the state”.
The December 2014 elections to the 87-member Jammu & Kashmir Assembly threw up a hung verdict, with the PDP emerging as the single largest party with 28 seats, while the BJP was a close second with 25. He said the BJP has not respected the “Agenda of Alliance” and stoked controversial issues. “Till now we all were in mourning”. We are not in any condition to discuss government formation at this moment.
On the fourth day Sayeed’s demise- Rasm-e-Chaharum- Akhtar told people gathered inside a makeshift tent that he had lost his political constituency in the demise of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
Asked about the uncertainty, he said, “PDP can answer this question…it is for PDP to take the first call from their side”. This announcement puts an end to the suspense over whether Mehbooba has agreed to be sworn in as the next chief minister to head the PDP-BJP coalition government. It’s true that she is in a state of mourning and it will take her some time to recover fully from this personal loss.
“Everyone is sad and mourning”.
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The Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Shri Mufti Mohammed Sayeed meeting with the Union Home Minister Shri Shivraj Patil in New Delhi on October 19, 2004.
