PDP Had Letter Of Support For Mehbooba Mufti. Returned Undelivered.

Srinagar: The People's Democratic Party was all set to form the government on January 7, and only a last-minute hiccup prevented their handing over the letter of support for Mehbooba Mufti to Governor NN Vohra, a response to an RTI query has revealed.

The details came from a letter Governor Vohra wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee on January 9, in which he requested for a go ahead regarding the imposition of Governor's Rule in the state.

The letter mentioned a meeting the Governor had with a PDP delegation led by senior leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig on the evening of January 7 - the day Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed died.

The meeting took place by prior appointment at the Srinagar airport, since the Governor was on his way to Jammu. But during it, Mr Baig changed his mind at the last minute and decided not to hand over the letter of support, Mr Vohra wrote.
 "Sh Baig informed me that he had brought a letter from his party, addressed to me, which intimated the PDP's decision that Mehbooba Mufti, Member of Parliament, would be the next Chief Minister," Mr Vohra wrote to the President. "He explained that he was not handing over this letter to me as he needed to recheck and be fully assured that all the PDP MLAs were on board in regard to the aforesaid decision," the letter added.

The PDP later said Ms Mufti had declined to take over so soon after her father's death. Now Ms Mufti imposed a number of conditions on alliance partner BJP, saying the party should first make some commitments regarding the implementation of the Agenda of Alliance.

But the BJP has refused to give any such assurance claiming that Ms Mufti was placating her votebank, which had been miffed with the alliance between two ideologically opposite parties. The two parties have met on Governor on February 2 and sought more time to resolve their differences.

The BJP is not overtly flexing muscle as it does not want to be seen as damaging the coalition or pushing the state towards a political crisis. Next week, senior BJP leader Ram Madhav is expected to visit Srinagar in an attempt to iron out the differences.