PDP kept 18 MLAs, 4 MLCs out from crucial meeting on alliance with BJP

'Only Cabinet Ministers, family members, advisors, select MLCs and select office-bearers were invited'

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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JAMMU, Jan 18: Voices of dissent rallying around the ebullient Member of Parliament and senior PDP leader Tariq Hameed Karra are emerging as a potential threat to PDP's renewal of alliance with BJP as 22 legislators ---18 MLAs and 4 MLCs----had not been invited to Sunday's crucial meeting that set the tone for formation of the new government with BJP.

With his phone continuously switched off, Karra remained inaccessible after the conclusion of the PDP meeting at the Muftis' Fairview residence. However, a local news agency quoted him as saying that his silence in the meeting was not essentially his endorsement of the proposed government formation with BJP. He is reported to have said that he would soon have a one-on-one meeting with the party President Mehbooba Mufti and register his opposition to the suggestion of continuing the coalition with BJP.

Significantly, on January 12th Karra had categorically rejected the idea of PDP-BJP government while urging Mehbooba, in a statement through KNS, to terminate her party's alliance with BJP and approach Congress for forging a "secular government". 

Karra had said: "PDP has lost its support by tying up with a communal party. I have been saying from the last nine months that RSS-BJP is not acceptable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Because it has a history that since 1952, RSS and BJP have a hidden agenda in Kashmir. What RSS could not achieve in the last six decades, they have achieved that in the last six months. And not only has it damaged Kashmir, but also Peoples Democratic Party in Kashmir.”

Previously too, Karra, alongwith Muzaffar Hussain Baig, had boycotted PDP-BJP Coordination Committee meeting on August 19, PDP's meeting ahead of Prime Minister’s November 7th rally presided over by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on October 21 and finally PDP's marathon performance review meeting chaired by Mufti at Banquet Hall in Srinagar on December 19th.

Insiders said that Karra remained tightlipped all through the five-hour-long meeting in which none other than Ms Mufti herself set the tone in favour of forming the government with BJP even as some of the participants expressed disappointment over the fact that BJP had not fulfilled "even a single" of the promises and commitments held out to PDP in the common minimum programme called the 'Agenda of Alliance'. However, all 10 of late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s Cabinet Ministers----9 MLAs and one MLC--- besides Ms Mufti’s relatives and her father's and her own advisors emphasised that taking a different course would tantamount to proving the party patriarch as wrong.

Four of the party’s legislators, who spoke to STATE TIMES on condition of anonymity, said invariably that around two dozen MLAs and MLCs were "terribly upset" over not being invited to the meeting. "Out of 27 MLAs only 9 (all of them Sayeed's Cabinet Ministers) were invited. Out of 9 MLCs, only five were hand-picked for the meeting", said a legislator and senior PDP leader. "We were more surprised to see that Mufti Sahab’s aides, advisors and relatives, some of them not even basic members of the party, had been invited to the meeting", he added and asked how even the salaried people like Peer Mohammad Hussain (head of Wakf board) and Nayeema Mehjoor (Chairman State Women’s Commission) attended the crucial meeting. "They are neither legislators, nor ex-Ministers, nor even members of PAC or any other party panel. How can they decide about the party’s coalition with any other party? How can the very senior leaders and sitting legislators be left out of this crucial deliberation?", asked he.

When it was pointed out to the sulking PDP legislators that it was a "Core Group Meeting" which was not supposed to be attended by all the leadrs and legislators, one of them asserted: "There's no Core Group (Political Affairs Committee) or Executive Committee after dissolution of all the bodies last year. Only the President, some General Secretaries, District Presidents, District Coordinators and Zonal Presidens have been elected/appointed. President is yet to constitute Political Affairs Committee, Executive Council and General Council. Even if we assume the previous PAC as existing, how many of these invitees and participants were members of that panel which happens to be the highest decision making body?"

Another legislator pointed out that the sitting MLAs and MLCs had been dropped by a number of former ministers and defeated MLAs invited. "If Peer Hussain, Gaffar Sofi and Qazi Afzal attended as former ministers/ defeated candidates, why not former Forest Minister Mohiuddin Sofi?", he asked.

PDP's chief spokesperson Dr Mehboob Beg refused to accept that the invitees had been selected on pick-and-choose basis. "Nobody was handpicked. I myself checked with President. She made it clear to me that it is just an extended meeting of the Core Group (PAC). Nobody was invited as a legislator. Only the Cabinet Ministers, senior office bearers like the four General Secretaries and Coordinators and members of Core Group were invited. Besides, there were a few special invitees like me", Dr Beg asserted. He claimed that the former Core Group (PAC) was still in life.

Dr Beg said that the party leadership would hold separate meeting "in due course of time" and all of them would be taken on board before the government formation. 

Among the 9 MLCs, only Nayeem Akhtar (ex-Minister), Asgar Ali, Yashpal Sharma, Vikramadatiya Singh and Anayat Ali attended the meeting. Saifuddin Bhat, Khursheed Alam, Zaffar Iqbal Manhas and Firdaus Tak were not invited.

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PDP LEGISLATORS NOT INVITED TO THE MEETING

1. Mohammad Ashraf Mir MLA Sonwar/ Ex-MoS

2. Abdul Majid Paddar MLA Noorabad/ Ex-MoS

3. Asiea Naqash MLA Hazratbal /Ex-MoS

4. Abid Hussain Ansari MLA Zadibal

5. Javed Hassan Baig MLA Baramulla 

6. Yawar Ahmad Mir MLA Rafiabad 

7. Mohd Abbas Wani MLA Gulmarg 

8. Raja Manzoor Ahmad MLA Karnah

9. Nazir Ahmad MLA Batmaloo 

10. Mushtaq Ahmad Shah MLA Tral 

11. Zahoor Ahmad Mir MLA Pampore

12. Mohd Khalil Bandh MLA Pulwama 

13. Aijaz Ahmad Mir MLA Wachi

14. Mohd Yousuf Bhat MLA Shopian

15. Abdul Rahim Rather MLA Kokernag 

16. Syed Farooq Andrabi MLA Dooru

17. Shah Mohd Tantray MLA Poonch

18. Qamar Hussain Ch. MLA Rajouri

19. Saifuddin Bhat MLC

20. Zaffar Iqbal Manhas MLC

21. Khursheed Alam MLC

22. Firdaus Ahmad Tak MLC

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Mehbooba calls PDP's first meeting on options of Government formation 

Ex-Ministers, top office-bearers, Baig, Karra to attend meeting

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
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JAMMU, Jan 16: Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti has called her organisation's first meeting over the options of the government formation at her Gupkar Road residence in Srinagar on Sunday.

Ten days after the party patriarch and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s death, PDP high command would seek the former Ministers' views, as also the wisdom of two of its Lok Sabha members, namely Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Tariq Hameed Karra, over the question of forming the new government with late Mufti's coalition partner BJP.

PDP sources told STATE TIMES that only the party’s members in Mufti’s Council of Ministers (Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State), Lok Sabha members Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Tariq Hameed Karra besides the senior office-bearers, including General Secretaries, would participate in the meeting that is scheduled to begin at 2.00 pm at Fairview. Mehbooba would preside over the meeting. No invitation is understood to have gone to other MLAs and MLCs of the PDP. However, PDP President's Political Advisor Peerzada Mansoor Hussain, is expected to be present.

Some of the party leaders are expecting Mr Baig to initiate the discussion with crticism of the BJP's treatment to the PDP and its commitments encapsulated in the common minimum programme known as "Agenda of Alliance". However, according to them, Mr Baig could flag PDP's limited options and constraints and thus set a tone in favour of continuance of the coalition with BJP. He is likely to stress on seeking certain political concessions and assurances from BJP, both at the State and the Central level, besides a larger interaction with the party cadres before initiating the process of the government formation.

As of now, only one senior PDP leader, Mr Karra, has categorically called for cessation of the alliance with BJP, contending in a lengthy statement that the partnership of power with RSS-dominated BJP had caused irreparable damage to the interests of the State as well as PDP. It remains to be seen how Mr Karra would behave in the party's maiden deliberation over the question of continuance, or otherwise, of the alliance with BJP.

Even as a large section of the political observers believes that Sunday's meeting would take the final call whether PDP should continue its alliance with BJP or not, well-placed PDP insiders insisted that Ms Mufti could go for a series of interaction with the party cadres, both in Kashmir and Jammu, before taking the ultimate decision. According to them, there was "very little possibility" of the government formation in the next two weeks.

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Army not in picture as Cupid springs in Peerbagh murder probe

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

JAMMU, January 15: Investigators have not found Army's involvement in kidnapping and subsequent killing of a 20-year-old engineering student whose mysterious murder triggered off violent protests in Peerbagh neighbourhood, in front of the Jammu and Kashmir Police Headquarters on the airport road here, on Thursday.

Well placed official sources revealed to STATE TIMES that the investigators have achieved breakthrough in the killing of Owais Bashir Malik within 24 hours of the recovery of his body. Even as some of the residents on Thursday alleged that Owais had been purportedly picked up by a unit of Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry headquartered at Rangreth, sources insisted that no involvement whatsoever of JAKLI or any other armed forces surfaced during the course of investigation.

Sources said that in all seven persons were rounded up by Police out of whom five including a girl student have been formally detained and interrogated. As the story revolves around a love affair and rivalry between the two youths, it was discovered that a student from Bandipora area managed to kidnap Owais with the help of three of his friends who severely tortured him to death before strangulation. The assassins also slit the throat of the student.

The body was thrown at a deserted place close to the railway track in Humhama. It was spotted in the morning on December 14th, leading to violent protest demonstrations on the airport road. The road remained blocked and 70 passengers missed their flights on Srinagar airport.

In addition to the registration of a murder case by Budgam Police Station, Government has ordered a magisterial inquiry to look into the cause of the death of the young engineering student.

SSP Budgam Fayaz Ahmad Lone refused to take questions as he claimed that the investigation was "still underway" and that it could "hamper the investigation". He, however, confirmed that five of the accused have been arrested and subjected to sustained questioning. He confirmed that the allegations of kidnapping and killing against armed forces were "not substantiated" during the investigation which, according to him, was "running on a different track". "We are sure to fully solve this mystery in the next couple of days", SSP Budgam said.

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Naeem Akhtar throws PDP's first hardball with Mehbooba's OK

'Retrun power projects to J&K, hold talks with separatists'

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
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JAMMU, Jan 14: Eight days after the party patron and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s death, Peoples Democratic Party on Thursday threw its first hardball on the coalition ally BJP as the Muftis' confidante and former high profile Education Minister Naeem Akhtar asserted that PDP would examine its profit and loss statement of the last 10 months before forging a fresh ruling alliance with BJP.

In Srinagar, Akhtar called select TV channels to his residence and stated that PDP would review its coalition with BJP after examining its achievements and deficit of the 10-month-long rule before forming a new government with BJP in Jammu and Kashmir. In an unmistakably sulking tone, Akhtar mentioned the coalition's commitments logged in the "Agenda of Alliance" and complained that most of the promises made to his party had remained unfulfilled.

Akhtar particularly made a mention of the BJP's commitment of handing over the NHPC power projects to the State government, announcement of Smart Cities, vacating of the lands occupied by the Central armed forces besides "addressing the internal dimension of the Kashmir problem"----euphemism for holding a dialogue with the Valley’s separatist leadership.

Source well-connected with PDP insisted that Akhtar’s assertions, which constitute a significant policy statement, came only with the PDP President's approval. Party’s designated spokesperson Dr Mehboob Beg is understood to have been barred from issuing statements and reactions to the media after his claiming that PDP-BJP coalition would be in place with Mehbooba as Chief Minister "within 48 hours" after the mourning would be over. Till late on Thursday night, nobody in PDP disowned or amended Akhtar’s statement.

Significantly, Akhtar described "Agenda of Alliance" as a "sacred document" for his party but asked where was this and where was that. During his visit to Srinagar, days before Mufti's death, union Power Minister Piyush Goyal had categorically told mediapersons that the Centre would not hand over any of its power projects to the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. Akhtar said that with regard to vacating the lands occupied by the Central armed forces, just a "positive beginning" had been made with the Army’s announcement that it would vacate Srinagar’s encampment of Tatoo Ground where Mufti announced to lay a public park.

Understandably, the most ticklish issue for the BJP would be PDP's insistence on initiating a dialogue with the Kashmiri separatists more so in an ambience of hostility arising out of the Pathankot between New Delhi and Pakistan.

Tightlipped and still in the mourning of her father, Mehbooba Mufti has not held any political discussion or meeting with her party colleagues or BJP and has not issued any political statement since the day her father became ill during a tour of Srinagar city on December 22. He breathed his last at AIIMS in New Delhi on January 7th.

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BJP in the dark as Mehbooba holds everything to her chest

Ram Madhav holds meeting with BJP legislators in Jammu

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
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JAMMU, Jan 12: With nobody discussing politics in the PDP camp and the bereaved Mehbooba Mufti holding everything to her chest, BJP continues to be groping in the dark with ragard to the prospects of government formation in Jammu and Kashmir.

Since the day of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s death on January 7th, none of her political colleagues has mustered courage to discuss the political issue of the government formation with Ms Mufti. Few of her guests who called on her with a political agenda, including a high level bureaucratic team led by Chief Secretary B.R. Sharma and BJP's J&K incharge Ram Madhav, returned upset as Ms Mufti told them categorically that there would be nothing political during the mourning period post her father's death.

Neither of them did even ask if the mourning period would be over with the official ritual on the 7th day or would run according to the religious practice till 15th or 40th day. And when the party spokesman Mehboob Beg was quoted by news agencies and television channels as saying that Ms Mufti's oath-taking would take place immediately after the 7th day, he was rebuked for "exceeding your brief".

Beg told STATE TIMES that he wanted to say nothing beyond the fact that Ms Mufti would discuss the government formation with her party leaders, legislators and workers only after the mourning period was over at her home. "I said only this much that after her deliberations with the cadres, following the end of the mourning period, Madam would take the final call. But unfortunately a section of the media quoted me as saying that Ms Mufti’s oath-taking would take place in the next 24 hours. How could I give a timeframe when neither the mourning period is over nor has there been any discussion on political issues in the PDP?", Dr Beg asserted.

"As of now, there's absolutely no political activity in PDP or at Mufti Sahab's residence. It's a solemn and sombre ambience and everybody calls on the bereaved family only to offer condolences", Dr Beg said.

According to the family sources, just a few of the PDP leaders, like Muzaffar Hussain Baig, Naeem Akhtar and Altaf Bukhari, have been able to see Ms Mufti and they all avoided discussing politics with her. Among others, only her maternal uncle Sartaj Madni, Mufti's close relative and MLA Syed Farooq Andrabi and her aide and nominated MLA Anjum Fazili have had access to the bereaved party President.

One of the senior leaders said on condition of anonymity that the government formation "if at all it happens with BJP" could take two or three weeks from now. "As of now, nobody in PDP is on record to say that the party would yet again form the government with BJP. Even the possibility of fresh elections does exist at this stage as nobody knows what would be the final call of the President", he said. He, however, ruled out possibility of a coalition with Congress or NC.

In Jammu, BJP camp witnessed some activity on Tuesday as the two leaders from the party high command, namely Ram Madhav and Avinash Rai Khanna, appeared in the winter capital and held a meeting with their State leaders and legislators at the former Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh’s house. The participants discussed prospects of BJP's forming the government with its former coalition partner besides the senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's clarification that Sonia Gandhi or her party had no ambition or intention to form the coalition with PDP.

The meeting, according to sources, discussed BJP's demand of rotational Chief Minister and two more Cabinet berths. However, it was decided that only the party high command would take a decision whether to press such demands with PDP or not.

After the meeting concluded, the BJP Central leaderd told journalists that their party would respond to the PDP communication only after it elected a leader and conveyed it to the former coalition ally BJP. They asserted that there was no difference of opinion with PDP but the process of the government formation had got delayed as the PDP was still in the mourning and it was yet to choose its leader.

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Azad: No question of Congress government formation with PDP

'We visited Srinagar purely out of respect for Mufti Sahab. There's absolutely nothing political in it'

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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JAMMU, Jan 11: Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday set aside all speculations of the PDP-Congress government formation in Jammu and Kashmir while asserting that the All India Congress Committee President Sonia Gandhi's visit to Srinagar on Sunday was "purely personal".

"There's absolutely nothing political in it. Sonia ji (alongwith Mr Azad and Ambika Soni) called on the bereaved family purely out of our respect and emotional bondage of several decades with Mufti Sahab", Azad told STATE TIMES by telephone from New Delhi. 

"Congress has absolutely no ambition or intention of forming the government with PDP which has been and continues to be a constituent of the coalition with BJP. There's no question of the Congress government formation with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir", Azad added without equivocation. "Unfortunately, some people are reading too much in our visit to Mufti Sahab's residence where we went simply with our condolences for the bereaved family", he asserted.

Azad said that he himself, as well as Sonia Gandhi and Ambika Soni, had "decades of personal and emotional bondage" with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, his wife and daughter Mehbooba. "We were deeply shocked on learning about his ill health and subsequently death. So we called on him at AIIMS. I was on Umra in Saudi Arabia where I prayed for his recovery. But he passed away next day. After I returned, we decided to visit Srinagar and paid our homage to Mufti Sahab on occasion of his Rasm-e-Chaharum".

Asked why the BJP top brass, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party President Amit Shah, stayed back in New Delhi and only the Congress top brass visited Srinagar, Azad said: "BJP has strictly a relationship of political convenience with PDP. There's nothing emotional in it. Contrarily, we in Congress have personal and emotional bondage of several decades with the Mufti family. That's perhaps why they stood back in Delhi and we went all the way to Srinagar to pay our tributes and condolences", Azad said.

Asked what precisely were the prospects of the new government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, Azad said Mehbooba Mufti would "most likely" fill the shoes of her father and form her government in coalition with BJP. 

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Governor’s rule a possible end to PDP-BJP alliance

Sonia generates a new chemistry in J&K politics 

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz 

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JAMMU, Jan 9: Peoples Democratic Party hier apparent Mehbooba Mufti’s disinclination to take over as Chief Minister during the mourning of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who died in hospital on January 7th in New Delhi, coupled with failure to respond to a Raj Bhawan communication, led to imposition of the Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.

After two days of hectic political activity from Srinagar to New Delhi, a Raj Bhawan spokesperson said late on Saturday night that the State had been put under Governor’s rule.

"Consequent to the sudden passing away of Chief Minister Shri Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on 7th January 2016, the process to form government had commenced and intimations were still awaited about the respective positions of PDP and BJP. Considering the likelihood of some more time being taken before government can be formed, with the approval of the President of India, Governor’s Rule has been imposed in the State with effect from 8th January, 2016, under Section 92(1) of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir", the spokesperson said.

On Friday, Governor Narendra Nath Vohra had faxed a letter to PDP President Mehbooba Mufti and BJP's State President Sat Paul Sharma asking both to urgently clarify their parties' positions with regard to formation of the new government. Neither of the outgoing coalition partners responded to Raj Bhawan for over 24 hours. Consequently, Governor furnished a report to the Centre through President of India making it clear that under the circumstances only the imposition of Governor’s rule would break the constitutional impasse.

President's concurrence, after necessary approval of the Union government, came to Jammu late in the evening. Raj Bhawan subsequently issued a notification of the imposition of Governor’s rule for indefinite period. 

On Friday and Saturday, a team of senior bureaucrats including Chief Secretary Braj Raj Sharma and the deceased Chief Minister's Principal Secretary Bharat Bhushan Vyas camped in Srinagar and made sustained efforts to convince Ms Mufti that she should take oath of office and secrecy from Governor at an earliest so as to avoid imposition of Governor’s rule. Sources revealed to STATE TIMES that the bureaucrats were put on the job after New Delhi urged Governor to attempt an early transition of power without imposition of Governor’s rule. However, Ms Mufti, sources said, made it categorically clear to the bureaucrats, as well as to the coalition's leaders, that she would not take oath until the mourning at her home was over. She remained confined to her bedroom and granted meeting to only a few of her select guests who included BJP’s General Secretary Ram Madhav.

On Saturday, Ms Mufti met her father's aide Prof Amitabh Mattoo and later only two of her party’s leaders namely Muzaffar Hussain Baig (Lok Sabha member ) and Syed Altaf Bukhari (outgoing Works Minister). Among others, only her maternal uncle Sartaj Madni and nominated MLA Ms Anjum Fazili had access to her room.

Like on Friday, the guests at Mufti's Gupkar Road residence were attended by Mr Madni and other family members. With Ms Mufti remaining incommunicado and no response coming to the Raj Bhawan communication, Governor submitted his report to the Centre.

Even as the PDP leaders attributed the stalemate to Ms Mufti's disinclination to assume office during the mourning period, political quarters were rife with speculations that the PDP chief had "change of heart" with respect to continuing her party’s coalition with BJP. Quite a numberof her party colleagues have been expressing their dissatisfaction over PDP's alliance with BJP perceived to be under the influence of the extreme right wing groups like RSS. Sulking over "choking of funds from Delhi" and developments like BJP's covert campaign against Article 35A of the Constitution of India and the State flag, workers have cautioned the PDP leadership that the party was losing ground in its key constituency in Kashmir.

It has been noticed within the PDP that not more than 4,000 people participated in the Chief Minister’s funeral in his home town where more than 10,000 residents attended a slain militant’s last rites last month.

Fissures in the 10-month-long PDP-BJP alliance as also Ms Mufti's newfound chemistry towards Congress became evident with the Congress President Sonia Gandhi's visits to AIIMS where Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was under treatment for about a fortnight. On one occasion, Mrs Gandhi, in a typical Kashmiri pheran, kept waiting for Ms Mufti who had gone to J&K House, for over 30 minutes till she returned. Significantly, Sonia Gandhi, alongwith Ghulam Nabi Azad, is scheduled to visit Mufti's residence on the 4th day ceremony on Sunday.

Interestingly, union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and MoS in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh were the only BJP leaders who followed Mufti's coffin from New Delhi to Srinagar on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned from Pallam Airport after laying a wreath. Contrarily, entire who is who of the Central Government, including Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, had visited Srinagar on occasion of the funeral of the NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah whose mourning was attended by over 10 lakh Kashmiris in September 1982. Even on the day of the death of Sheikh’s wife Begum Akbar Jehan, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, union Home Minister LK Advani and union Defence Minister George Fernandes visited Srinagar and paid tributes to the NC leader at Hazratbal.

Significantly, Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, with MLAs Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami and Hakeem Yasin, was more conspicuously present at Mufti's funeral and thereafter than the BJP leaders. 

Even as some PDP and BJP leaders are still optimistic that Ms Mufti would take oath next week, form her government with BJP and carry forward her father's and Prime Minister Modi's "Agenda of Alliance", most of the political observers have perceived her new chemistry with Sonia Gandhi and Mr Azad. For them, today's imposition of Governor’s rule did signify "an end" to PDP's 10-month-long coalition with BJP. However, PDP's formation of the government with Congress is apparently impossible as the total number of PDP and Congress MLAs including all of their allies is only 43---one short of the required 44. The number of NC and BJP MLAs and their allies is also 43. So PDP's coalition with Congress is impossible unless it is either supported by NC or joined by independent MLA Pawan Gupta or Peoples Conference that has two MLAs.

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[ Published in today's STATE TIMES ]