Mehbooba calls T20 meet to discuss alliance future

To discuss the future of the alliance, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President, Mehbooba Mufti Saturday called a high-level meeting of top 20 party leaders including 10 former cabinet ministers, two Members of Parliament, three General Secretaries and Political Advisor to the PDP President at her Fairview (Gupkar) residence at 2 pm on Sunday.

According to sources, Mehbooba would chair the meeting of top 20 leaders of the party including 10 former cabinet ministers Abdul Rehman Veeri, Javaid Mustafa Mir, Abdul Haq Khan, Syed Basharat Bukhari, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali, Haseeb Ahmad Drabu, Ghulam Nabi Lone, Syed Altaf Bukhari, Imran Raza Ansari, Naeem Akhtar, two Members of Parliament, Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Tariq Hameed Karra, three General Secretaries Rafi Ahmad Mir, Nizamuddin Bhat and Ved Mahajan, senior leaders Sartaj Madani, Dilawar Mir, Vikramadatya Singh and Trilokh Singh Bajwa, a former MP, and PDP President’s Political Advisor, Peerzada Mansoor.

PDP President’s Political Secretary, Peerzada Mansoor confirmed to us that he had been called to attend the meeting.

However, he was unaware about the agenda of the meeting.

According to sources, the PDP meeting is likely to take stock of the party’s coalition with the rightwing Bharataiya Janata Party (BJP) during the past 10 months and discuss the renegotiating terms with them.

Governor’s rule had been imposed in Jammu Kashmir on January 8 after the demise of the sitting chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7.

The sources said the opinion of Mehbooba is that by being in the coalition with the saffron party, PDP had suffered more harm than developing the goodwill of the people and that there was a need for the party to renegotiate the terms of engagement with them if PDP leadership decides to go for government formation with BJP.

Mehbooba had been heard telling the party leadership and workers that they needed to work harder in the coalition government with BJP considering the dent the party’s image had received over issues like the re-arrest of Masrat Alam Bhat, beef ban and killing of a Kashmiri youth on Udhampur highway, State flag controversy, failure of New Delhi in returning certain NHPC-run power projects and engaging Hurriyat leadership, delay in Government of India’s assistance to September 2014 flood-affected people, adopting Srinagar and Jammu for the smart cities project, and return of land occupied by troops.

“We’ve washed our hands in acid,” Mehbooba had been telling her party leaders and workers about their alliance with BJP.

During the 10 months that PDP led by her father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed was in government, Mehbooba remained inconspicuous with her absence on the political turf but she would call the shots with most important government decisions.

“She was the real non-state actor in her father’s government,” a senior party leader said. “Now she is going to be the real state actor.”

The sources said the party would also discuss the suggestions of senior PDP leader and Member of Parliament, Tariq Hameed Karra about breaking ties with BJP.

Karra had been asking the party leadership to BJP to rethink its alliance with the Saffron party had suggested looking for other alternatives.

The sources said a top Congress leader had also promised outside support to Mehbooba in case PDP failed to patch up an alliance with BJP.

They said the PDP President was deeply hurt with the indifference shown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Muftis and not paid a single visit to the ailing Mufti Muhammad Sayeed during the 14 days he was admitted at AIIMS, New Delhi.

The sources said Modi had just completed a formality of expressing solidarity to Muftis by hurriedly visiting the Technical Airport at Delhi to lay a wreath on Mufti’s body after he died on January 7 and did not even visit the family in Srinagar.

In contrast, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had not only visited AIIMS to enquire about the health of ailing Mufti but also rushed again when he was declared dead and then made it to Srinagar on the Chahrum of the two-time chief minister.

If Baig and Karra turn up for the meeting, this would be after a long time that they would attend any meeting called by the party leadership as both had skipped the last meeting called by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed before the November 7, 2015 visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Srinagar.

This meeting is also the first meeting called by the PDP President of her party leadership although all the party legislators and senior office bearers had attended an earlier casual meeting on Mufti’s Chahrum but, according to senior party leaders, that was a “congregation of the family” not any formal meeting at the end of which the party leaders had been served the Chahrum dinner.

The sources said besides discussions on the government formation, the party leadership would also take some important decisions about the party affairs.

Following the death of Mufti, the PDP Patron’s post had fallen vacant but the party is not likely to give the post to anybody, they said.

However, the sources said, if the government formation takes place as Mehbooba takes over as the CM, she would vacate the party president’s post, which is likely to be taken over by her maternal uncle Sartaj Madani although the name of Muzaffar Hussain Baig is also being considered.

A senior PDP leader said Mehbooba has both the constitutional authority and moral authority to take any decision she wants on the government formation and as party leaders they would attend the Sunday’s meeting as they were duty bound to act on every direction their president gives them.

The sources said Mehbooba is likely to nominate senior party leader Naeem Akhtar for being the party’s point-man on government formation with BJP.

They said he was one of the few leaders who had been given audience by Mehbooba to discuss government formation after her father’s death.

Akhtar, who was a close aide of Mufti, has already spoken to the media and let the party’s position known about the alliance with BJP and expressed grudge over the way BJP leadership and New Delhi had been handling Kashmir and dealing with the State government when Mufti was incharge.