J&K deadlock: Meeting with PM Modi ''positive'', says Mehbooba Mufti

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, March 22

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help end the impasse over establishing a government in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The meeting was positive. I will go back to Srinagar and take the next step," Mufti said after the meeting. “I have called a legislature party meeting on Thursday. We will take any more decisions there.”

Sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party called the meeting a final step on its part, stating clearly that it was now up to the PDP to make its next move.

However, the sources also hinted that Mufti would soon assume responsibilities as Chief Minister.   

“It is only a matter of time before there is a PDP-BJP government in the state,” the sources said.

The state has been without a government under Governor’s rule since its last chief minister, PDP veteran Mufti Mohammed Sayeed — Mehbooba Mufti’s father — died on January 7.

The PDP’s alliance with the BJP —a partnership forged my the former chief minister when he came chief minister in March 2015 — has since been a subject of great speculation, with reports claiming not all was well between the two parties.

The PDP is reported to have been several demands pertaining to the state, but BJP has said this past week that it would be unwilling to fulfil them until a government was firmly in place. Attempts between the two parties to find common ground recently have failed.

The PDP has 27 MLAs and the BJP has 25.  — (With inputs from agencies)