Madhav meets PDP chief, discusses Govt formation
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President, Mehbooba Mufti Friday refused to take oath as the new chief minister of the State stating that even her religion allows her three days of mourning after her father’s death.Amid speculations and hectic consultations among the PDP and BJP leaders, Mehbooba was persuaded by her party leaders including her maternal uncle Sartaj Madani and the rightwing Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leaders to take oath as the new CM but she categorically refused saying that she was still mourning the death of her father and was in no hurry to take over as the chief minister.
“I’ll take oath after his Rasm-e-Chahrum,” she told the party leaders who came to offer their condolences over her father, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’s death and urged her to take oath as the next chief minister.
Talking to reporters at Mehbooba’s Fairview residence at Gupkar, senior PDP leader Naeem Akhtar said Mehbooba is a traditional Kashmiri woman and an affectionate daughter and right now was not in the right frame of mind to take oath as the CM.
Meanwhile, Mehbooba had an hour-long one-on-one meeting with BJP’s National General Secretary, Ram Madhav, who had come to offer condolences with her.
“We had discussion over the future of the government,” he said but refused to divulge further details about the deliberations between the two.
After the meeting was over, Ram Madhav left for Circuit House where he chaired a meeting of the BJP legislators and party leaders and held deliberations over the government formation.
Following the death of her father, the process for the elevation of his daughter to the top post had started on Thursday itself.
Mehbooba is likely to take oath as the Chief Minister while senior BJP leader Nirmal Singh as the Deputy Chief Minister.
The process for the elevation of Mehbooba to the CM’s post had started when two senior PDP leaders, Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Syed Altaf Bukhari had approached Governor Narendra Nath Vohra and informed him about their party’s support to Mehbooba for taking over the reins of the State.
BJP’s incharge J&K Affairs, Avinash Rai Khanna had also given a clean chit to Mehbooba for taking over as the next CM following her father’s death at AIIMS on Thursday morning.
However, with Mehbooba’s reluctance to take oath as the new CM, the change of guard has been put off for the time being.
