Mehbooba set to become first woman CM of Jammu & Kashmir

Mehbooba Mufti was elected as the leader of PDP Legislature Party at a meeting of the senior leaders at her residence in Srinagar on Thursday

Decks were on Thursday cleared for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti to take over as the first woman chief minister (CM) of Jammu and Kashmir, after she was unanimously elected as the legislature party leader and nominated as the party's CM candidate.

Mehbooba, 56, was elected as the leader of PDP Legislature Party at a meeting of senior leaders, which included members of parliament, members of legislative Assembly and members of legislative council, at her residence here.

PDP will now need a letter of support from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - seen as a mere formality - to become the first woman chief minister of the state.

"A meeting of all the senior leaders of PDP was held. During the meeting, the legislators of the party decided that Mehbooba Mufti should be the leader of the legislature party and should be nominated as a candidate for the post of chief minister of the state," senior party leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig told reporters after the one-and-a-half-hour-long meeting.

Earlier in the day, the PDP president visited her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's grave in Bijbehara in south Kashmir. "Mehbooba visited her father's grave in Bijbehara to offer prayers just before she takes final call with regard to government formation with the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir," a PDP leader said.

The PDP-BJP coalition, after 10 months rule from March 2015 to January, ran into rough weather following the death of then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7, after which the state came under the Governor's Rule.

Since then, the PDP leadership has sought confidence building measures and assurances on the implementation of the already agreed Agenda for Alliance from the Centre for forming the government again.

Hopes for government formation were revived after Mehbooba met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Tuesday.

She termed the meeting as "positive", saying she was "satisfied" with the discussions with the Prime Minister.

In another development, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah accused Mehbooba of showing indecisive and wavering leadership on government formation in Jammu and Kashmir.

"If the last two months are a precursor and an indication of the next more than four years to come - God save our state for such indecisive, wavering leadership," he wrote on his Facebook page.

Omar said for over two months, the state has witnessed a roller-coaster performance of political posturing from PDP underlined by a display of indecisive leadership.

"After the demise of late Mufti (Mohammad Sayeed) Sahib, Mehbooba Mufti declared her unwillingness to take over the reins of power unless BJP and the central government announced certain confidence building measures (CBMs)," he said.

Mehbooba had termed her father's decision to align with BJP as an "unpopular" one, he said and noted that her intentions were viewed as docile and noble - at least as far as BJP is concerned.

"She wanted to be seen as a rebel who was immune to the temptation of power that her father had succumbed to. What started as her claim for higher moral ground has ended in the same old territory of serious contradictions - by now an all too familiar hallmark of her politics and that of her party's," he said.

PDP is now clearly about to form the government with BJP and Mehbooba Mufti would become the Chief Minister, shattering the expectations raised by them for the last two months, he said.

Omar questioned as to how such a leadership will confront divisive forces that threaten the state's integrity, its amity and its peace.

"How will such indecisiveness affect the state politically and economically is something that remains to be seen. Sadly, the script seems to have been written and the preview is alarming," he said.