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SRINAGAR

Mehbooba Mufti
Mehbooba Mufti

Concluding her three day tour to Jammu where she met the Governor NN Vohra and party supporters, the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti arrived in Valley on Friday.

According to the KNS, Mehbooba arrived in Srinagar on Friday afternoon and met some PDP leaders at her Fairview residence here.

Confirming her return from Jammu, a senior PDP leader said that the party president reached Srinagar in the afternoon.

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti maintained suspense over government formation as she met Governor N N Vohra in Jammu on February 2 and set certain conditions to ally BJP, including confidence building measures (CBMs) by the Centre for peace and development of Jammu and Kashmir.

“Before formation of new J&K government, I want the Union government to take some confidence building measures for the region,” Mehbooba Mufti had said after the meeting.

Talking to reporters after meeting Vohra who had invited her to clarify her stand, Mehbooba said the state, which is different from others, needs a “good atmosphere, space and a fillip” if a new government is to be formed.

PDP chief indicated that she wasn’t too willing to take up the mantle as J&K chief minister either. “I don’t have that vision which Mufti sahab had, neither do I have the experience right now,” Mehbooba Mufti said after meeting the Governor.

Mehbooba said her late father Mufti Sayeed, without bothering about his “political career”, had aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the hope that the Centre will bring out the state from the difficult situation it is in.

While remaining evasive on what she told the Governor over government formation, the PDP chief said, “Jammu and Kashmir is a different state, there are different challenges. In Jammu and Kashmir, there are several forces which need to be tackled. We need the Union Government to be fully with us.”

Repeatedly asked about what she wants from the Union government, Mehbooba said there was a need for confidence building measures (CBMs).Refusing to specify the CBMs, she referred to the ‘Agenda of Alliance’, saying it had been firmed up at the highest level by the two parties last year.

Governor Vohra had earlier written to both partners of the PDP-BJP alliance seeking a clarification on their stand on government formation in the state. Jammu and Kashmir has been under central rule following the death of Chief Minister and Mehbooba Mufti’s father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. There has been uncertainty over the formation of government in the state ever since.

Though both the BJP and the PDP have maintained that they are committed to the vision for the state laid down in the form of the common minimum programme of the state government chalked out last year during government formation, there have been signs of a rift between the two parties, leading to uncertainty.

The PDP is said to be unhappy about fund flow from Delhi not turning up as promised. According to PDP sources, the party wants a written assurance from PM Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah on supporting PDP’s stand on issues such as Article 370 and the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

Prior to the meeting, BJP’s three-member panel from its state’s core group yesterday rushed to New Delhi and held consultations with central leadership before meeting the Governor to discuss government formation. The BJP is expected to put forth its views before the Governor when its representatives meet him later today over the formation of government in the state.

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