Peoples’ Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, who will take the oath as Jammu and Kashmir’s first woman chief minister on Monday at the head of a PDP-BJP coalition, on Friday sought the resignations of all PDP office-bearers. A party spokesman later confirmed all of them had relinquished their posts and that the move was “only to pave way for party restructuring”.
Sources in both the PDP and BJP said the date for the swearing-in was “mutually decided” and was conveyed to governor N.N. Vohra. The sources said they had finalised the names of ministers who would be administered the oath by the governor at the ceremony in Jammu, the state’s winter capital.
A PDP spokesman said here that four general secretaries, Nizamuddin Bhat, Ved Mahajan, Mehboob Iqbal and Rafi Ahmed Mir, as well as Peerzada Manzoor, political adviser to the PDP president, were asked to resign, which they did immediately. He also said: “All the leaders have expressed full faith in the leadership of Mehbooba Mufti and pledged support in the interests of the party and the people of the state.”
On the composition of the new government, earlier reports had claimed the BJP was pitching for a “just and equitable share” in power with the PDP and driving a hard bargain before the swearing-in. Confirming this, BJP spokesman Sunil Sethi said in Jammu earlier this week: “There is a general perception that as the number of our MLAs is the same as that of the PDP, there is nothing wrong if we expect our numbers (in the government) to be the same. We should get a just and equitable share in distribution of power.”
He, however, had also added that the BJP state leadership had conveyed its views to the central party leadership, which would negotiate the matter with the PDP.
Reports also claimed that the two parties were squabbling over certain key portfolios and that there was a strong feeling in some sections of the PDP that “non-performing” ministers in the earlier Mufti Muhammad Sayeed ministry should be shown the door and new and energetic faces given a chance to prove their mettle.
Some senior ministers in the Narendra Modi government and key BJP leaders are likely to attend the oath-taking ceremony in Jammu, and sources said the Prime Minister may also be requested to grace the occasion.
