J&K to see brief spell of Governor's rule?

Srinagar: Senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, who is tipped to succeed Mehbooba Mufti as party president, said: “Mehboobaji is not ready and the oath-taking will happen only after (Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’s) chaharum is over.”

Sayeed’s chaharum is due to take place on Sunday at Bijbehara, and a prayer meeting will be held at his official residence “Fairview” in Srinagar.

A Raj Bhavan spokesman said Friday in Jammu, the state winter capital, that governor N.N. Vohra was in touch with the leadership of the coalition partners on the new government. “Besides being in touch with the leadership of the coalition partners, the governor has also addressed letters by fax to Ms Mehbooba Mufti, PDP president, and Shri Sat Paul Sharma, (state) BJP president, to urgently inform him about their respective positions regarding the formation of the new government,” the spokesman said.

With the passing away of chief minister Sayeed, the council of ministers headed by him has ceased to exist. Ms Mufti has to choose a new team before a new council of ministers is administered the oath of office by the governor. If the swearing-in ceremony is delayed beyond a reasonable period permitted by the Constitution, Jammu and Kashmir may be placed under Governor’s Rule for a few days. Mr Beigh, who is also a senior lawyer and a constitutional expert, however, claimed that there will be no constitutional crises due to this vacuum. “There will be a few days of Governor’s Rule but he will be a caretaker till another chief minister takes the oath,” he said.

BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav, who played a key role towards cobbling up the coalition between the ideologically-divergent BJP and PDP last year, had a one-on-one meeting with Ms Mufti at her residence here on Friday. He flew in here from New Delhi in a chartered plane earlier in the day to pay his condolences, but is said to have briefly discussed with her the formation of the new government at their hour-long meeting.

“I went to meet Mehbooba to express my condolences on the demise of Mufti Sahib. We had some discussions over the future of the government, but I will not be able to share more details about these deliberations right now”, Mr Madhav said. When reporters got insistent, he said: “When the time will come, we will let you know.”

Sources in the two parties said they have already settled the succession issue in view of Sayeed’s failing health even though some BJP MLAs and other party leaders had in internal party discussions asked for a fresh demand to be made for sharing the chief minister’s post on rotational basis. But this demand was turned down by the party’s leadership, which however agreed to opt for a fresh bargain and seek changes in the allocation of portfolios and also increasing its tally in new council of ministers. After his meeting with the PDP president, Mr Madhav, along with BJP state in-charge Avinash Rai, drove straightway to Circuit House in Srinagar.

Mr Beigh insisted it was only because the PDP president was in shock that she was not ready to take over as new chief minister. He said the party does not want to put any pressure on her. “She is a mother, a daughter, a sister... The tragedy is huge and she is everybody’s source of strength. It will be unfair to force her to do something,” he said.

Some constitutional experts said if it has been decided that the new government will be formed only after Monday, for whatever reason, the state is all set for a brief spell of Governor’s Rule.

Former CM and National Conference working president Omar Abdullah has accused the BJP of forcing “political uncertainty” on Jammu and Kashmir. Questioning the party’s stand on government formation, he said Ms Mufti should be given time to mourn the death of her father. “Why is the BJP forcing this uncertainty on the state? Mehbooba, understandably, needs time to grieve, but these guys?” Mr Abdullah wrote on Twitter soon after Mr Ram Madhav chaired a meeting of BJP legislators here.