The Hindu : Mufti to be CM for first 3 years

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 27, 2002

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Mufti to be CM for first 3 years

By Anita Joshua

The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, with the J&K Congress president, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and the PDP president, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, after a meeting in New Delhi on Saturday. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan

NEW DELHI OCT. 26. After a fortnight-long war of nerves, the Congress today relented and agreed to have the People's Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on a rotational basis of three years to begin with. Thereafter, the Chief Ministership will go to the Congress for the remaining three years.

The much-awaited decision was announced by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, at her residence in the presence of Mr. Sayeed and the leaders of their principal allies, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, of the People's Democratic Forum and Bhim Singh of the Jammu and Kashmir Panthers Party.

Together, the four parties account for 46 MLAs, two more than the required number to stake a claim to form the government in the 87-member Assembly.

Earlier, Ms. Gandhi had an hour-long meeting with Mr. Sayeed. They were later joined by Mr. Bhim Singh — who, earlier in the day, had categorically said that he would not support a coalition led by the PDP — and Mr. Tarigami, whose support to a Congress-PDP coalition has been unconditional from the beginning.

Ms. Gandhi said the decision was taken in the "larger interest of the country and the State,'' and conceded that having the PDP lead the coalition did not enjoy the favour of a sizeable section of her party, including its senior leadership. On why the Congress had delayed the decision, she said: "The Congress is a large organisation and we follow a certain system. We consulted all our colleagues and Chief Ministers, many of whom were in favour of the Congress leading the government. Finally, together with my colleagues, I came to the conclusion that in the larger interest of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, it would be the right thing to give the Chief Ministership to Mr. Sayeed.''

Mr. Sayeed said that the elections had provided a "golden opportunity" and could well be a turning point. While both the leaders said the nitty-gritty of the coalition was still under discussion, Mr. Sayeed maintained that the effort would be to honour the mandate of the people and "coordinate and consolidate the secular democratic forces.''

Though Ms. Gandhi had said that the details of the common minimum programme (CMP), the duration of the rotational arrangement and the issue of Deputy Chief Ministership would be announced on Sunday afternoon, the Jammu and Kashmir Congress president, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said the Chief Ministership would be with the PDP for three years, during which time the Congress would have its representative as the deputy.

Earlier, the senior Congress leaders, Arjun Singh, Ambika Soni, Mr. Azad and Ahmed Patel, met at the residence of the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Manmohan Singh, to prepare the draft CMP. It was then presented to Ms. Gandhi and after an hour-long discussion, Mr. Arjun Singh told the media that with the drafting of the CMP wrapped up, Ms. Gandhi would invite Mr. Sayeed for a discussion to work towards forging an alliance.

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