Mehbooba's swearing-in likely to be soon after father Mufti Sayeed's last rites
Srinagar: Two senior PDP leaders Muzaffar Hussain Beigh and Syed Altaf Bukhari are reported to have met Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra here to hand over a letter of support in favour of party president Mehbooba Mufti, daughter of late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, to be the next chief minister of the State.
The letter, sources said, claims that Ms. Mufti has been nominated as the leader of PDP legislature party following the death of her Chief Minister father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and enjoys the support of its coalition partner-the BJP as well.
Earlier the BJP made it clear it will go with the PDP’s choice for the post of chief minister. “It is for PDP to decide who will be their leader,” BJP vice president and its Jammu and Kashmir in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna told PTI when asked about his party’s stand on Ms. Mufti succeeding her father. He added, “Our alliance is with PDP,” indicating it was the coalition’s senior ally’s prerogative to choose the leader for the top job.
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The oath-taking ceremony of Ms. Mufti is likely to take place after her father is laid to rest in ancestral town of Bijbehara. Earlier reports had said that she is disinclined to take over as the chief minister till Rasm-e-Qul or customary 4th day ceremony of her deceased father is over. She has been explained that there is a constitutional hitch in delaying the appointment of a new chief minister.
Ms. Mufti, born on May 22, 1959, will be the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. In the 87-member J&K Assembly PDP won 28 seats and BJP 25 while opposition National Conference got 15 and Congress 12 in 2014 elections. Her father and PDP patron Mufti Sayeed took over as chief minister at the head of PDP-BJP coalition government on March 1, 2015 and died in office early Thursday.
After earning her law degree from the University of Kashmir in 1980s, she remained uninvolved in public life and dedicated her time in bringing up two infant daughters, Iltija and Irtiqa. She later divorced from her husband, who went on to pursue an independent political career. However, she would soon be seen with her father at political rallies and after formerly joining active politics successfully contested the election to the State Assembly as Congress candidate from her home segment of Bijbehara in 1996.
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In July the father-daughter duo along with some key associated floated their own regional party PDP after quitting Congress. In 2002 Assembly elections, PDP bagged 16 seats and Sayeed for the first time became Chief Minister with the support of Congress and some independent MLAs.
In 2004, Mehbooba contested and won her first Lok Sabha election, from south Kashmir. In 2008, she contested and was returned as MLA from Wachi segment of Shopian in south Kashmir when PDP bagged 21 seats but lost power to NC-Congress coalition. In 2014, she was yet again returned as Lok Sabha member from south Kashmir.
Subsequently, the PDP got 28 seats in the State Assembly elections and in March 2015 it formed its second government in Jammu and Kashmir--this time in an alliance with BJP.
