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J&K government formation: PDP, BJP squabble over portfolios

Mehbooba Mufti set to be J&K's first woman CM, BJP and PDP to meet Governor today

Srinagar: Peoples’ Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti’s planned meeting with J&K governor N.N. Vohra due on Friday afternoon to stake claim to form the government with the BJP was deferred at the last moment as the talks between the alliance partners over allotment of portfolios remained inconclusive.

Sources in the two parties said a consensus over crucial portfolios like home, finance and planning was eluding the PDP-BJP combine. The BJP, sources said, had sought the home portfolio, that traditionally remains with the CM. It also reportedly wanted to wrest finance or planning that was with the PDP in the previous coalition ministry led by the late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.

Both sides were, however, officially silent on the reasons for their seeking a postponement of meetings with the governor. Late Friday evening, they announced Ms Mufti would lead a joint delegation of the alliance partners to meet the governor at 3.30 pm on Saturday.

A Raj Bhavan spokesman in Jammu said both the PDP and BJP had asked for more time as their discussions were continuing. Ms Mufti was scheduled to meet the governor at 3.30 pm Friday to stake claim to form the government. This would have been followed by a separate meeting Mr Vohra had sought with state BJP president Sat Pal Sharma for parleys on government formation.

The PDP reportedly wants to make senior leader and Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar Tariq Hameed Karra the finance minister. Mr Karra was strongly opposed to his party’s alliance with the BJP and had in protest remained aloof from all party activities in the past year. He was, however, wooed back by Ms Mufti ahead of its legislature party meeting here on Thursday. The CM designate has also, it is learnt, decided to drop some who were ministers in her father’s government over their “poor performance” and introduce some “new and energetic faces” in her team.

The BJP is not ready to accept Mr Karra as finance minister, apparently as he has publicly opposed the PDP’s alliance with the saffron party in the past and had during the PDP-Congress government (2002-2008) sought a “dual currency” for J&K.

Earlier on Friday, the BJP formally announced it would form government with the PDP and elected former state unit chief Nirmal Singh as its leader in the J&K Assembly. He was also nominated for the deputy chief minister post that he held in the Mufti Sayeed government.

A BJP delegation headed by Mr Sharma was also due to meet the governor later Friday to convey the decision taken at its legislature party meeting in Jammu. It was also expected to hand over a letter to the governor extending the party’s support to the PDP president.

Ms Mufti, 56, was on Thursday unanimously elected as PDP legislature party leader at a meeting held in Srinagar, clearing the decks for her to become the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

The state BJP chief, emerging from the MLAs’ meeting, said: “The BJP legislature party has elected Nirmal Singh as its leader and nominated him as deputy chief minister in the new coalition government.” He also said the BJP also decided to extend support to Ms Mufti to head the PDP-BJP government in the state. The new government, the BJP said, would be formed on the basis of their “Agenda of the Alliance” structured last year which “will remain unchanged”.

Besides all 25 BJP MLAs, Friday’s meeting was attended by the BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav and PMO minister of state Jitendra Singh. They were deputed by the top BJP leadership to meet the MLAs in Jammu to review the current political situation in the state and elicit their opinion before Mr Sharma met the governor.

Mr Jitendra Singh told reporters there had never been a breakdown in the coalition with the PDP. “There has never been a breakdown in the coalition... It is just a continuation of the process which started about a year back,” he said, adding: “There were no differences, but when you are in a coalition then you have to take care of each other’s priorities and each other’s preferences and that is what we do in a healthy coalition. And I am sure this will augur well for the state of Jammu and Kashmir.”

Once she becomes chief minister, Ms Mufti is likely to quit as a Lok Sabha member to contest the byelection from Anantnag, from where her father got elected in the last Assembly elections. Under the Constitution she has to get elected to either House of the state legislature within six months of taking over as CM.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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