No Government Until BJP Assures on Mufti’s Vision: Mehbooba

Srinagar, Jan 31 (IANS) PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday told her party's core group that she was not averse to forming the government in Jammu and Kashmir but this cannot happen unless she has assurances from the ally BJP that her late father's vision would be fulfilled.

Presiding over the meeting of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders, Mehbooba Mufti, according to party sources, said she needed concrete assurances from the coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party that the vision of late chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed about equitable development and peace in the state would be fulfilled.

"The core group meeting was called today (on Sunday) to basically discuss party affairs like its membership campaign and reaching out to people. However, some leaders and legislators wanted to know Mehboobaji's views on government formation," a party leader said.

"She told them she was not averse to government formation, but she won't burn her fingers for nothing. She spoke about Mufti Sahib taking a big decision by deciding to form an alliance with the BJP but his dream remained largely unaddressed during his 10-month tenure," said the source.

According to him, Mehbooba Mufti said that she cannot decide to claim power in the state simply because that would make her the chief minister.

From Sunday's closed-door PDP deliberations, it has become clear that the impasse over the government formation in the state will continue.

Jammu and Kashmir was placed under the Governor's rule on January 8 after Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passed away on January 7 in New Delhi after a brief illness, and Mehbooba Mufti did not step forward to stake claim to form the government.