* Portfolio sharing to be discussed
Neeraj Rohmetra
JAMMU, Feb 26: Founder-patron of PDP, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed will meet Prime Minister, Narendra Modi tomorrow to put their seal of approval for the formation of the PDP-BJP coalition Government in the State.
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR, “Mufti, who flew to New Delhi today would be meeting the Prime Minister at his residence at 9 am and the meeting is likely to last for around 40 minutes as per the schedule”, adding, “after the meeting both the parties would jointly make public the Common Minimum Program (CMP), which shall form the basis of this unique coalition Government in the State”.
This will be second inning of the 78 year old Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as Chief Minister of the State and he will have full six year term unlike earlier in 2002, when he headed the PDP-Congress coalition for only first three years. The post of Deputy Chief Minister will go to BJP and MLA Billawar, Dr. Nirmal Singh is the front-runner for the post.
The PDP patron is also likely to urge the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to participate in the swearing-in ceremony, which is likely to take place on Sunday (March 1) in Jammu, as reported earlier by EXCELSIOR.
Sources said, “the two leaders are likely to discuss the broad contours of the new political dispensation including the portfolio sharing pact and also steps aimed at further strengthening of the PDP-BJP relationship”, adding, “the meeting would also discuss the possibility of PDP becoming part of the NDA Government at the Centre”.
“There were sufficient indications that the Prime Minister would attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new Government to convey the message that new political dispensation in the State would have full backing of the Centre on all fronts”, sources asserted.
“The swearing-in ceremony is likely to take place at 11 am on Sunday (March 1) and will be attended by Union Cabinet Ministers and senior leaders of the BJP including party president, Amit Shah, organisation general secretary Ram Lal, Union Health Minister J P Nadda, who was also election incharge J&K in 2014, Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State in PMO and party general secretary Ram Madhav”, sources confirmed.
Over the portfolio sharing pact, sources remarked, “PDP is likely to walk away with lion’s share in the pact and the main portfolio of Planning, Finance, Home, Tourism will be held by them, while BJP will have to remain contented with other portfolios”. Representation would also be given to the People’s Conference, which had pre-poll alliance with BJP and Independents, which supported the Government during the recently concluded Rajya Sabha polls.
There will be five to six Ministers each from PDP and BJP during the swearing-in. Rest of the Ministers will take oath later as J&K can have 22 persons in the Council of Ministers.
In a related political development, BJP Parliamentary Board, which comprises 12 members and is headed by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi met today evening and endorsed the formation of the new PDP-BJP coalition in the State. It will be for the first time that BJP will be sharing power in the sensitive State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Over the issue of PDP becoming part of NDA Government at the Centre, source said, “there was general convention that some representative of the regional party becomes part of the Central Government for further cementing of ties. During the Vajpayee Government also, when National Conference was into alliance with NDA, former Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah was Union Minister for External Affairs at the Centre”.
“The PDP nominee in the Centre is likely to be one of the three Lok Sabha members from Kashmir and presently there are three Lok Sabha MPs — PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Tariq Hameed Kara”, sources added.
Earlier, former Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on his arrival in New Delhi told that a CMP on which there has been a consensus has been made and now he will be meeting the Prime Minister tomorrow.
Refusing to talk about the understanding on contentious issues like Article 370 which gives special status to the State, he said, “I won’t talk on the issues….It (CMP) will come in black and white and the entire public of the country will see what we are doing.”
Ahead of the meeting between Sayeed and Modi, Presidents of both the parties — Mehbooba Mufti of PDP and Amit Shah of BJP, met on Wednesday and formally announced that differences over contentious issues had been ironed out paving way for formation of a coalition Government in the State.
The December 23 election results last year had thrown a highly-fractured mandate with PDP emerging as single largest party with 28 MLAs followed by BJP with 25. Erstwhile allies National Conference and Congress ended with 15 and 12 seats respectively.
BJP and PDP, which have been in negotiations for nearly two months now, have sorted out all the differences over Article 370, Armed Forces Special Powers Act, resettlement of West Pakistan Refugees, return of power projects and holding of talks with Pakistan and separatist leaders of the State.
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