The CM showered praises on his daughter and credited her with the victory in the polls in the state.
Is Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti readying to take over reins of power from her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and become the next chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir? Sayeed on Friday dropped enough hints for Mehbooba's takeover, though he did not specify any time frame for the change of guard in the state. "It (handing over reins of power to Mehbooba) is a democratic process… It will be the party's decision. Who comes in is not the issue this time, however," Mufti told reporters in Jammu. The CM showered praises on his daughter and credited her with the victory in the polls in the state.
"She is working tirelessly in the field and strengthening the party base. Consolidation of party's base is not because of me, but because of Mehbooba. I find very little time for party affairs. It was because of her that we won the elections in Bijbehera in 1996," Mufti said. Speculations are rife that Mehbooba was being groomed to take over as chief minister from her father. However, there has been no official confirmation about the transition of power in the state until Friday when Mufti dropped enough of hints of possible transition of power. A law graduate, Mehbooba, 55, holds the record of not losing any election from south Kashmir either for the assembly or Parliament. A reluctant politician initially, Mehbooba plunged into electoral fray in 1996 from her home constituency of Bijbhera on the instance of her father who was then the tallest Congress leader of J&K. Otherwise, she was satisfied with her role of a single mother of two young daughters following her divorce from her husband.
However, the transition would not to be a smooth affair given the internal bickering within PDP over aligning with the BJP in the state. Lok Sabha MPs from Srinagar and Baramulla constituencies, Tariq Karra and Muzaffar Baig respectively, have openely castigated the party for entering into an alliance with BJP for power. Tariq Karra, a former J&K finance minister who defeated National Conference president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah in his pocket borough of Srinagar in 2014, even went to the extent of asking Mufti to walk out of the alliance and align with the secular forces. However, the chief minister put up a brave face saying the dissent is the essence of democracy. "Dissent is the essence of democracy. Muzaffar Hussain Baig is senior party leader and he has every right to have his own point of view… Anybody can share his views. I am not the sole authority", he said.
Elaborating, Mufti noted that dissent is in every party and they should welcome it. "We should engage in a debate. Whatever I did on March 1 (the date when PDP-BJP government was formed) I see a level of satisfaction among the people on the ground," he said.
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