Has Sonia-Mehbooba meet opened a door for future alliance in J&K?

This announcement puts an end to the suspense over whether Mehbooba has agreed to be sworn in as the next chief minister to head the PDP-BJP coalition government. Omar, the working president of PDP’s arch-rival National Conference, said Mehbooba was a grief-stricken daughter who is not ready to take over as the Chief Minister yet. CM Nirmal Singh has, meanwhile, expressed confidence that BJP’s alliance with PDP will continue in Jammu and Kashmir.

As per a ‘Times of India” report, BJP has requested the PDP chief to agree on appointing a “rotational chief minister ship’ for Jammu and Kashmir, which has been rejected by Mehbooba.

For Mehbooba Mufti, her father’s chosen successor, and the PDP, the underwhelming turnout confirmed their worst fears of an eroding support base. With the mourning period over on Sunday, BJP expects political discussion within PDP to start now following which it will respond accordingly, he said.

“Sonia ji is scheduled to visit Srinagar tomorrow to offer condolence to Mehbooba ji”, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Ghulam Ahmad Mir told PTI.

The picture shows senior Congress leader Gulam Nabi Azad and leader of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (right), along with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in New Delhi on October 26, 2002. The coalition has ruled the state since 1 March, 2015 with her departed father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as its leader.

Mehbooba, Lok Sabha member from Anantnag, said her father always used to refer to the state administration as one of the best administrations in the country. “I have come here to convey condolences on behalf of the central government”, he told reporters.

With an unease creeping into both sides on the terms of engagement of the alliance with Mehbooba at the helm in government, the BJP does not want to open its cards yet on the issue, sources said.

But PDP leaders are issuing statements in private and public to dampen the spirits of state Congress leaders and keep hopes of the state BJP leaders alive. They later had a bitter split in 2008 following the Amarnath land row agitation. The lawmakers of PDP are engaged in a meeting in Srinagar to discuss government formation in the state.

BJP sources said they would get a “sense” of the PDP’s intent by tomorrow once its internal confabulations get going.

BJP leader and Dy. “Though he is not physically present now, his work and memories are before the people of Jammu and Kashmir and that needs to be carried forward”, he said. Mehbooba still has a significant part of her political future waiting up ahead in the distance.