ProMASS News Bureau: Mar 24, 2016:
In Jammu and Kashmir, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti was unanimously elected as the leader of Legislative Party at a crucial meeting in Srinagar Thursday evening.
The meeting held at her official residence in Srinagar, was attended by all the legislators, core group members and other party leaders.
This has formally paved way for Mehbooba Mufti to be the first woman chief minister of the new PDP-BJP coalition govt in J&K.
After meeting Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday in New Delhi, Mehbooba had described the meeting as very positive.
BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav had called upon PDP to take next step towards government formation. State governor has called presidents of both the parties for separate meetings in Jammu on Friday.
BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav earlier said BJP PDP has to make the next move towards government formation process. The last round of talks between the two parties would follow after clear decision taken by the PDP Legislative Party. Governor NN Vohra has called separate meetings with the presidents of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu tomorrow.
AIR correspondent reports, PDP leadership fully understands Party’s political position after it is face to face with criticism from the opposition parties who charge the PDP of backtracking from the position it had taken on the issue of government formation in the State. The latest clarification by BJP’s national general secretary Ram Madhav indicates that Party has not conceded on PDP’s demands. The fact of the matter is that BJP reached the corridors of power for the first time in J&K when PDP Patriarch Late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed stitched alliance of what he called North Pole-South Pole.
This decision is seen as atypical in Kashmir context and Mehbooba Mufti cannot ignore her own public statements about the experiences of PDP in coalition with BJP. Mehbooba Mufti is on record having said that she would walk alone if she felt political and developmental commitments outlined in the Agenda of Alliance were not achieved while continuing alliance with BJP in the govt.