"... (about) coming of Mehbooba ji (as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir)... It is democracy," Mufti said while replying to a question from a reporter about the buzz in the state that he will pave the way for Mehbooba to be the Chief Minister in the near future.
"Whether one or another comes, that is the job of the party to decide. That is not an issue as of now," he added.
While dropping the hints, Mufti hailed the role of his daughter in consolidation of the party in the state.
"Really, it is she who is doing the job in the field and I work behind the scene and other areas. Whatever consolidation has come to the party was not because of me. I was not winning. She won from Bijbehara in 1996 (Assembly elections). She has worked for that," the PDP patron said while interacting with reporters here.
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The Chief Minister was asked about dissent within the PDP, with party MP Muzuffar Hussain Beigh openly saying that Mufti had bowed before the BJP in finalising the alliance with it.
Replying, Mufti said, "there is dissent in every party and every party should welcome it. They should engage people in debate. Such dissent is the essence of democracy. Beigh is a senior leader of our party. He has every right to have his own view-point. I am not a contractor of the party."
Defending his decision to ally with BJP, Mufti said people are satisfied with it.
"I feel that it is my vindication, whatever I did on first of March, 2015. When I look towards the ground situation now, people have a level of satisfaction with that (my decision)," he said.
He said after Kashmir, his government will now lay focus on Jammu region. "We remained focussed in Kashmir, because of monsoon we could not do macadamisation, we will do it now," he added.