Sonia meets Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar

In a meeting that is being seen as politically significant, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday visited PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar to offer condolences on the demise of her father and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Ms. Gandhi, who arrived from Delhi, drove straight from the airport to the Fairview residence of Ms. Mehbooba Mufti in Gupkar in Srinagar at 3 p.m. She stayed with the PDP president for about 20 minutes.

The Congress president was accompanied by the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress general secretary Ambika Soni, State Congress chief G.A. Mir and party leader Saifuddin Soz.

Sayeed breathed his last on Thursday at AIIMS in New Delhi after undergoing treatment there since December 24, 2015.

The meeting is seen as politically significant as the BJP, an ally of the PDP, is yet to officially extend support to Mehbooba for the Chief Ministership after Mufti’s demise.

The Congress has earlier shared power with the PDP between 2002 and 2008, with both parties having their Chief Ministers on rotational basis for three years. They later had a bitter split in 2008.

Ms. Gandhi’s flying into Srinagar to meet Ms. Mehbooba Mufti assumes significance as there are reports that the PDP and the BJP are bargaining afresh over the formation of a new government.

The PDP has already given a letter to Governor N.N. Vohra, saying that all its 28 MLAs support Ms. Mehbooba Mufti for the Chief Ministership. But Ms. Mehbooba Mufti has reportedly said that she will not take oath till the end of mourning period for her father, which is the fourth day that falls on Sunday.

Mr. Vohra on Friday had asked both the PDP and the BJP to convey their position on the government formation. Since the BJP did not convey its position, the Governor on Saturday imposed the President’s Rule in the State.

SOURCE: PTI