Mufti's political graph shows his fondness for courting unpopular, politically hazardous ventures in pursuit of his ultimate objective to vindicate his leadership. Towards the end of his life, Mufti's public profile had come to assume the dimensions of statesmanship. One reason being his willingness to learn from his experience, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
In the backdrop of the release of separatist leader Masarat Alam, Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Ram Madhav met Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and called for a better coordination between the alliance partners
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday urged top opposition leaders to rise above political compulsions to take on the BJP in the interest of the nation and start planning "systematically" to realise the "ultimate goal" of winning the 2024 Lok Sabha polls
The PDP patron is understood to have agreed to the talks, which are aimed at easing the widening rift between the two coalition partners.
The former J-K CM said Shardapeeth in Pak-administered Kashmir is an outstanding relic of Kashmir's glowing history.
Gandhi's flying into Srinagar to meet Mehbooba assumes significance as there are reports that the PDP and the BJP are bargaining afresh over the formation of a new government.
It would pave the way for Jammu and Kashmir to attract large-scale investments, the industry leaders said.
According to the officials privy to the development, Centaur Hotel, owned by the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), has submitted a bill of nearly Rs 3 crore to the home department for over 100 days of boarding and lodging of the detenues.
As the Opposition held its first meeting on the Presidential polls and names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi also cropped up, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice with senior party leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal).
It is expected that Sayeed will invite Modi for the swearing-in function in Jammu.
Controversial remarks from Minister of State in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office about a debate on the relevance of Article 370 that gives a special status to Jammu and Kashmir has evoked sharp reactions from state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and main opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
Various opposition parties like the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Communist Party of India, and the Communist Party of India-Marxist raised vociferous protests in the upper house while opposing the resolution and the bill.
"When the people of BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) talk of Article 370, they talk of technical integration. We have to make them understand that we also want that Jammu and Kashmir should fully integrate with India emotionally," she said.
'We have made no effort in recent years to build a national opinion on Kashmir amongst political parties.' 'At least we should speak as one country.' 'It has been a failure of our foreign policy that we have not been able to convince world opinion that something needs to be done about Pakistan.'
People's Democratic Party patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed on Monday called India a "banana republic" over Afzal Guru's family not being allowed to meet the Parliament attack convict before he was hanged, a day after Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said this was a "tragedy".
Leader of the opposition and People's Democratic Party, Mehbooba Mufti, has accused the central government and the Jammu and Kashmir government of using the youth of Kashmir as scapegoats to cover up militant attacks.
Mehbooba said there was a huge difference between former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's regime and the current one under PM Narendra Modi.
Peoples Democratic Party veteran Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was sworn-in as chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir heading a coalition with BJP which, in a clear departure from its earlier stand, agreed to maintain status quo on Article 370 in the common agenda for governance.
The ruling National Conference demanded a public apology from opposition Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti over her party's controversial map showing parts of Jammu and Kashmir in China.
The BJP offers Saifuddin Soz 'one-way ticket' to Pakistan
The Jammu and Kashmir government will not free any more political prisoners or militants, it stated on Tuesday
He was earlier questioned in the case for over six hours on Monday. His son and former chief minister Omar Abdullah expressed his displeasure and tweeted the party statement on his father's questioning with the comment: 'This on a day when my father turns 84!'
With talks between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Peoples Democratic Party on government formation in Jammu and Kashmir making no headway, the state seems to be headed for a spell of governor's rule.
As the House proceedings began, National Conference MLC legislator Devender Rana and asked the chairman for his decision on the privilege motion against PDP Member Murtaza Khan for levelling allegations against Union Minister Farooq Abdullah in connection with the alleged scam.
The ruling National Conference-Congress coalition in Jammu and Kashmir received a severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections as the coalition could not win even a single seat of the 6 in the state.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and three of his cabinet colleagues are among 44 candidates whose fate will be decided on Tuesday in the third phase of polling in 16 seats spread across Budgam, Pulwama and Baramulla districts.
While the leadership of the biggest Opposition party, the Congress, has not reacted, even non-Congress and (now) anti-BJP parties like the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) have voiced no view on Banerjee's appeal, reports Aditi Phadnis.
"Nomination of Kashmir interlocutors has dampened the hope. It is more or less a useless exercise," she said.
'If there is any possibility, then the BJP has to accept our conditions. There should be caste census in the country, the report of the social justice committee should be implemented, the CM should be from backward caste and also the poor must be provided a uniform, mandatory and free education as well as free medical treatment.'
Refuting reports about his remark over people of Kashmir, whom he allegedly dubbed as 'maha chor', Union Minister Farooq Abdullah on Monday said he was misquoted by the media.
The National Conference, which is emerging as the single largest party in a hung assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, has made a clean sweep of the eight constituencies in Srinagar. Considered to be stronghold of the separatists, the city recorded 20 per cent polling in the final phase of elections held on December 24.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is projected to get a majority in Jharkhand while Jammu and Kashmir may return a hung verdict with PDP emerging as the single largest party followed by BJP in assembly elections in the two states, according to two separate exit polls on Saturday.
He accused the Apni Party, led by former People's Democratic Party leader Altaf Bukhari, and the union territory administration of using coercive tactics to buy loyalties of newly elected DDC members.
PDP patron Mehbooba Mufti staked claim to form a government with the support of the Congress and the National Conference, while People's Conference leader Sajad Lone also staked claim to form the government with the help of the 25-member BJP.
Meanwhile, home minister Rajanth Singh said 90 per cent people in J&K keen to participate in panchayat polls.
Hurriyat said Dulat's "primary goal was to defame the Kashmir freedom movement and spread lies about it".
'Abrogation of Article 370 is not legal because it is the legal basis of Kashmir's accession to India.'
The prime minister told Sayeed, former chief minister of the state, that he had held preliminary discussions with his colleagues and more meetings were scheduled to take place in the next couple of days.
Carrying placards, the opposition members tried to disrupt the governor's address thrice.
The announcement comes days after senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead in Srinagar.
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