The Hindu : Mufti, Sonia confer on govt. formation in J&K

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 13, 2002

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Mufti, Sonia confer on govt. formation in J&K

By Anita Joshua

The former Home Minister and PDP president, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, on arrival at the Palam airport in New Delhi on Saturday. — Photo: Sandeep Saxena

NEW DELHI OCT. 12. Their numbers "ensured'', efforts to put together a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir began in right earnest today with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, meeting the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, here.

However, no information was forthcoming from either party on what transpired at the meeting, which lasted for half-an-hour. Apparently, Mr. Sayeed had insisted on meeting Ms. Gandhi alone.

All that Mr. Sayeed told mediapersons about the talks on government formation, while leaving 10, Janpath Road, was that "we discussed how to meet the challenge before us, because the people have great expectations from us".

Cut short by a heavy downpour, Mr. Sayeed said that he had a detailed discussion with Ms. Gandhi on issues pertaining to Kashmir, the turnout, and the verdict. "We had detailed discussions on how to form the government", he said, without elaborating.

Though the Congress leadership was equally tightlipped, there were indications that there could be another meeting between Ms. Gandhi and Mr. Sayeed tomorrow.

That the coalition will be stitched up in the Capital is now almost certain as Mr. Sayeed is not the only possible ally of the Congress to arrive here to meet Ms. Gandhi.

She was also slated to meet one of the two CPI (M) MLAs, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, in the evening, as part of the exercise of speaking to all potential coalition partners.

Though the two key partners are keeping their cards close to the chest, elected MLAs of the Congress — which is back in the reckoning in J&K after 27 years — are said to be rather reluctant to let go the office of the Chief Minister to the PDP, which is said to be lobbying for the post on the premise that it has a stronger hold over the valley. However, upon his arrival in the Capital, Mr. Sayeed told reporters that "chief ministership was a non-issue".

Given the ticklish nature of the question of the chief ministership, there is talk of having a Chief Minister and a Deputy Chief Minister — something the J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president, Gulam Nabi Azad, had been saying right through the campaign — to give due representation to the two regions of Jammu and Kashmir. But, the issue that needs to be clinched is from which region will the Chief Minister be.

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