Mehbooba calls meeting of party leadership tomorrow

The first signs of efforts to end the nine-day impasse on government formation in Jammu and Kashmir emerged today with PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti calling a meeting of her party's "extended core group" here tomorrow, expectedly to discuss the future course of action and ties with ally BJP.
This will be the first formal party meeting to be chaired by Mehbooba who has been playing the guessing game over the government formation ever since the sudden death of her father and then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7.
"The PDP president has convened a meeting of the extended core group of the party tomorrow at her residence in the afternoon," a senior PDP leader told PTI.

He said those invited to the meeting include the party MPs, former ministers, and the senior party office bearers.
The state has been under President's rule since January 9 as neither PDP nor BJP staked claimed for forming government.
The meeting has been called against the backdrop of reports that Mehbooba is unhappy over a variety of issues with BJP, a party with which Mufti ran a coalition government for 10 months after tying up in the wake of a hung verdict in assembly elections.

The issues believed to be nagging the PDP leadership range from Sayeed not being given proper respect when he passed away in Delhi on January 7 to meagre flow of funds from the Centre to the state which is now under a spell of Governor's rule.

In the 87-member Assembly, PDP has 27 MLAs while BJP has 25 legislators.
Three days back, the PDP said it would be reviewing the progress made on implementing the 'Agenda of Alliance' between the two parties and Mufti's 'vision' before embarking on fresh government formation in the state.
Against this background, union Finance Secretary R P Watal came here on Thursday and met Mehbooba Mufti.
Though PDP said Watal had met Mehbooba just to express his condolences, the key official of the central government is believed to have explained to her about what has been done by the Modi government and what is in store for the state.

Earlier, PDP leader Nayeem Akhtar had said, "Mufti Sahib
had a vision for making Jammu and Kashmir a modern state. Due to his death, his vision is yet to be realised. The party under the leadership of Mehbooba Mufti will need to review how much we have succeeded to fulfill Mufti Sahib's vision so far."
Describing the 'Agenda of Alliance' as a "sacred document" and not a piece of "scripture", he had said it needed to be assessed whether the "common vision" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mufti had been taken forward.
According to Akhtar, there have been several "gaps" in its implementation and in this context referred to the issues like return of power projects to the state, developing of smart cities, return of land under use of armed forces.

"I am saying these are areas of concern of Jammu and Kashmir as well as national concern," the PDP leader had said, adding BJP should do some stock-taking.
He had said Mufti, with his stature, could "absorb" these concerns but in his absence PDP has a dilemma as to whether things can be carried forward in the same manner.
Meanwhile, leader of opposition National Conference Farooq Abdullah today said the political uncertainty in the state should end as the people must not suffer.
The NC patron and former chief minister advised the coalition partners to form the government at an earliest.

"I think, they should quickly form a government because the state cannot afford instability," he told reporters on the sidelines of a book release function here.
He said the coalition partner PDP and BJP must take the decision at an earliest as the people of the state should not be left to suffer.
"Whatever they (PDP and BJP) do, they must do it now and must not wait. I think that is more important now it is the people that matter and people want solutions to their problems and that is what they (both the parties) should focus", he said.