Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti is all set to become the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir with the BJP’s ‘unconditional’ support.
On Saturday, she met Governor NN Vohra and formally staked claim to form the Government in the State thus ending the 11-week-long political deadlock over the issue.
Senior PDP MPs Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Tariq Hamid Qarra, and BJP’s Nirmal Singh were also present on the occasion.
On his part, Singh, who is tipped to be the Deputy Chief Minister once again, handed over the letter of BJP’s support to the Governor, reposing full faith in Mehbooba’s ability to lead an alliance regime in the State.
After meeting Vohra, Mehbooba and Singh told reporters, “Both the parties have taken the first step by beginning the process of Government formation in the State.”
They, however, remained non-committal on the exact date of the oath ceremony and denied speculative media reports of bickering over the distribution of portfolios.
Emerging out of the brief meeting with the Governor, Mehbooba told reporters: “The vision of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed will be fulfilled with renewed vigour by our Government. Mufti sahib’s vision of development, peace and reconciliation will be fulfilled by the PDP-BJP alliance Government.
When quizzed by reporters over any last minute hitch over portfolio sharing with the BJP, Mehbooba said, “Portfolios are not important. That is something we can sit together and sort out.” She also made it clear that the PDP is expected to retain the same portfolios which were held by the PDP Ministers during the late Mufti’s tenure in office.
Singh told reporters, “His party had supported Mehbooba’s claim to power and the new Government would take office in the State soon”.
Asked to specify the date when the oath-taking ceremony of the new Government would be held, Singh said no date had been decided yet and it would be mutually decided during the meetings of the two parties in the coming 2-3 days. “We will soon sit together and chalk out the modalities on how to go about it,” he clarified.
Governor’s Rule was imposed in the State on January 8, 2016 a day after the sudden demise of former Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed at AIIMS on January 7, 2016.