In the first signs of ending the 9-day impasse over government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti has called a meeting of her party’s extended core group in Srinagar on Sunday which is expected to deliberate on the future course of action and ties with BJP.
“The PDP president has convened a meeting of the extended core group of the party tomorrow at her residence in the afternoon,” a senior PDP leader told PTI. He said those invited to the meeting include the party MPs, former ministers, and the senior party office bearers.
This will be the first formal party meeting to be chaired by Mehbooba since the death of her father and then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7. As the PDP and the BJP, which ruled the state in an alliance from March 1 till Sayeed’s death, did not stake claim for fresh government formation, the state was put under Governor’s rule on January 8.
The BJP has maintained that the PDP has to make the first move by electing its legislature party leader before they can extend support to the regional party for government formation in the state. The PDP, on its part, has said it will review the implementation of its Agenda of Alliance with the BJP during the 10-month coalition before deciding on its next course of action