A man of perseverance and great survivor, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had an astute political sense honed by decades of experience in Kashmir politics that has stood him in good stead in crafting a delicate alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party to return as chief minister for the second time.
The body of Sehrai, 77, was handed over to his family on Wednesday evening and taken in a police escort to Kupwara in north Kashmir, at least 350 km from Jammu, where he would be buried at his ancestral graveyard in accordance with the COVID-19 guidelines.
What would an Indian American president of the US look like, sound like and act like, especially on issues and policies pertaining to his or her 'mother-land'?, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Facing flak from opposition parties and separatists, Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday made a U-turn on the controversial plans for composite townships in the valley for displaced Kashmiri Pandits, saying they are "part and parcel of the Kashmiri fabric of life" and would be settled at their native places and "not as an isolated community".
Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
She also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre of "murdering the democracy" in the name of polls.
The voter turnout in the first three phases of the civic polls in the valley has been low.
The Delhi government on Friday moved the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance on control of services, saying it is an 'unconstitutional exercise of executive fiat' that attempts to 'override' the top court and the basic structure of the Constitution.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said she was deeply distressed by the killing of 'civilians' in 'crossfire'.
The Peoples Democratic Party on Saturday set tough conditions for the Bharatiya Janata Party which is wooing it for the formation of the new government in Jammu and Kashmir, declaring that its stand against revocation of Art 370 was "non-negotiable".
Amid continuing suspense over formation of new government in Jammu and Kashmir, Governor N N Vohra on Friday invited the People's Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, the first and second largest parties in the elections, which threw up a highly-fractured verdict with no clear winner.
The Congress expressed its 'whole-hearted' support to the 'Bharat bandh' called by farmer unions against the new agri-marketing laws and announced that it will hold protests that day at all district and state headquarters in solidarity with the demands of the farmers. TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the party rank and file would actively participate in the bandh to ensure it was a success.
This is probably for the first time that curfew is in place on the day of Eid festival ever since militancy broke out in the state in 1990.
It is expected that Sayeed will invite Modi for the swearing-in function in Jammu.
Parliamentary sovereignty cannot be permitted to be diluted or compromised by the executive or the judiciary, he said in his strongest remarks yet against alleged judicial interference in the working of Parliament.
"We should not mock them but learn from their mistakes," Prasad quoted Modi as having told the gathering.
At the meeting, many parties urged the Congress to publicly denounce the ordinance but the Congress refused to do so, claimed AAP, adding that the grand old party's "silence raises suspicions about its real intentions".
'We were advocating Indian democracy and Indian Constitution. The other side (separatists) questioned Indian Constitution, democracy and accession. This action of scrapping Article 370 has vindicated their point.'
Released on Friday after his detention under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) was revoked, former chief minister Farooq Abdullah drove from his residence to nearby Hari Nivas where his son, also a former chief minister, has been held first under preventive custody since February 5 under the PSA. The two warmly embraced.
He made the demand during a joint press conference with Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann who called on him in Hyderabad to discuss the issue of the Centre's ordinance.
The BJP general secretary said it was untenable for them to continue in the alliance.
'The government is adopting double standards by allowing foreign envoys to visit Jammu and Kashmir, but not Indian politicians'
The daring militant attack on an Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir last Friday shook the people of Uri town, situated close to Line of Control in Kashmir, but it did not deter them from exercising their franchise as voters thronged the polling station on Tuesday morning.
At 79, Zoramthanga is working to rebuild his image as the people's CM.
Kejriwal said that the ordinance must be defeated collectively in Parliament where it is likely to come up for voting as a law in the forthcoming session.
If Jammu and Kashmir comes under Governor's rule, it will be for the eighth time in four decades.
Sources in New Delhi say senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which could signal the launch of formal negotiations between the two political parties
Analysts said a likely spell of governor's rule in the state will allow the central government to take tough measures against terrorism, which may provide the ruling BJP a plank in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
He also dismissed the possibility of a fractured mandate and claimed the party will get more seats than the last Lok Sabha polls.
"Now, Rahul Gandhi calls the entire OBC community thieves. He gets flak in the courts but he refuses to apologise thus showing how deep-rooted his hatred for OBCs is. The people of India did not forgive him in 2019. In 2024 the punishment will be more severe," he said.
She said the situation arising out of demonetisation has triggered a sort of constitutional crisis.
It was also suggested that an all-party delegation should visit Kashmir to assess the situation but the government did not make commitments regarding any of their demands.
Negotiations between the BJP and the PDP to finalise the Common Minimum Programme have intensified
Local people, however, rushed to their rescue and informed the police, he said.
The opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was in the grip of a crisis on Saturday with the Janata Dal-United saying the alliance was collapsing amid indications that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will switch back to the National Democratic Alliance, prompting the Congress to allege that the Bharatiya Janata Party is doing its best to cause a 'mini implosion' in the coalition.
Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and several other party leaders were detained on Tuesday night as they held a dharna at the Union Rural Development Ministry office in New Delhi demanding a meeting with the minister and released around three hours later.
"I am ready to fight the money power (of her political opponents), and (central) agencies (which her party alleges has been unleashed on TMC with a political motive), but I will not bow my head," she said.
Earlier this week, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi held a series of meetings, including with Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Janata Dal-United president Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan.
Sounding the poll bugle for the second phase of Assembly elections in Udhampur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday sought a clear mandate for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu and Kashmir for the state's development
The BSF opened fire in Pakharpora near Charar-e-Sharif area to quell stone-pelting protesters in which at least one person was killed and five injured.
