Nirmal Singh to be her deputy, rest of the cabinet to be sworn in after Mufti’s chaharum
Following the death of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the process for elevation of his daughter Mehbooba Mufti to the top post has already started and she is likely to be sworn in as the next CM on Friday.According to sources, Mehbooba is likely to take oath as chief minister on Friday at around 4 pm to 5 pm while senior BJP leader, Nirmal Singh would take oath as the deputy chief minister and the rest of the cabinet would be sworn in after Mufti’s Rasm-e-Chaharum on Sunday.
The process of Mehbooba’s elevation to the CM’s post started when two senior PDP leaders, Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Syed Altaf Bukhari approached Governor, Narendra Nath Vohra and informed him about their party’s support to her for taking over the reins of the state as the CM.
Earlier in the day, BJP’s in-charge of J&K affairs, Avinash Rai Khanna also gave a clean chit to Mehbooba for taking over as the next CM following her father’s death at AIIMS early Thursday morning.
If Mehbooba takes over as the chief minister, she would become the first woman chief minister of J&K and the second Muslim chief minister of India after Syeda Anwara Taimur, who was the chief minister of Assam between December 6, 1980 and June 30, 1981.
Mehbooba’s Political Adviser, Peerzada Mansoor, while returning after the burial of Sayeed, told that the party was still in mourning.
The reports of Mehbooba taking over as the chief minister started in October last year but she dismissed them saying she was not interested in the job and wished her father should live long and take the State out of quagmire.
Meanwhile, BJP spokesman Khalid Jehangir said the call of BJP’s Jammu Kashmir Affairs Committee on Mehbooba’s elevation would be final.
He said after returning from Mufti’s burial, Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh called a meeting of all BJP legislators and ministers at Hari Niwas to discuss the change of guard and party’s stand on it.
According to sources, the meeting began that 8 pm and continued till late evening, decided that BJP would support Mehbooba’s elevation as CM for the remaining term of the coalition government.
The meeting was also attended by Minister of State in PMO, Jitendra Singh, state BJP president Sat Sharma and other senior party leaders.
