Mehbooba Mufti breaks silence, says Jammu and Kashmir needs specific CBMs from Centre

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti finally broke her silence on forming a government in Jammu and Kashmir putting the BJP on notice to kick off state-specific confidence building measures. [caption id=“attachment_2606266” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. AFP[/caption] These were Mufti’s first public remarks on forming a government to end Governor’s rule imposed in the state after the death of her father and chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed last month. “Today, it is not about the Bharatiya Janata Party and the PDP. It is about what we tell the people about fulfilling Mufti sahib’s vision. We need measures to give the new government a fillip. We need confidence-building measures from the Centre,” Mehbooba told reporters after meeting Governor N.N. Vohra at Raj Bhavan here. “Jammu and Kashmir is a different state, there are different challenges. In Jammu and Kashmir, there are several forces which need to be tackled. We need the Centre to be fully with us,” Mufti said, reports The Indian Express. Mumbai Mirror reports on the hard stand that Mehbooba Mufti has now taken, saying she will not “compromise”. “I don’t have the vision nor do I have the experience right now which Mufti sahib had. The Centre needs to create an environment to infuse confidence, and unless that happens, we cannot move forward,” the PDP leader said while referring to her late father and chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who died on January 7 in a Delhi hospital. She said the governor had called the PDP leadership for a meeting on Tuesday to know its views on the formation of a new government. “Mufti sahib had taken a big decision by forming an alliance with the BJP. There were problems during the 10 months he was in power because of inherent contractions between the PDP and the BJP,” Mehbooba said. Earlier, senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh called on Mehbooba at the state circuit house here. Sources said Singh assured her of continued BJP support to head a coalition government in the state. PDP sources said she categorically told the BJP leader that unless the “highest leadership in the BJP gives me concrete assurances”, she would not stake claim to form the new government in Jammu and Kashmir. With IANS inputs