Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid glowing tributes to Sayeed and offered homage to him before the body was flown to Srinagar in an air force plane.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who crafted an impossible coalition with BJP in the Muslim-majority state, died on Thursday. A few hours later his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chose his daughter Mehbooba Mufti as his successor.
Sayeed, 79, breathed his last at AIIMS in the morning after remaining on ventilator for the past few days.
A Congressman till 1987, Sayeed left the party and joined the ranks of VP Singh to become the only Muslim home minister of India when he was inducted into the cabinet of the National Front government in 1989.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid glowing tributes to Sayeed and offered homage to him before the body was flown to Srinagar in an air force plane.
The funeral prayers was offered in the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium in Srinagar in which thousands of mourners took part.
Life comes full circle for Mehbooba Mufti
From an accidental politician to would-be chief minister, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti has come a long way to step into the shoes of her late father.
Currently a Lok Sabha MP from Anantnag, Mehbooba, 56, holds the record of not losing any election from the south Kashmir either in the assembly or the parliament. A reluctant politician initially, she plunged into electoral fray in 1996 from her home constituency of Bijbhera on the instance of her father. Otherwise she was satisfied with her role of a single mother of two young daughters.
All eyes are on the BJP, the alliance partner of PDP, about their next course of action. "We are still busy with the funeral. The issue will be discussed after the last rites," said Sat Sharma, state BJP chief
PDP writes to Guv
PDP leaders led by Lok Sabha MP from Baramulla Muzaffar Hussain Baig and MLA Amira Kadal Syed Altaf Bukhari handed over the letter of support to J&K governor NN Vohra nominating her for the post of next chief minister. "Our president Mehbooba will be the next CM. She was the second in command who also holds the post of president. Our party cadres want her to be the CM," Rafi Ahmad Mir, general secretary of PDP, told dna.
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