J&K: PDP wants pledge from Prime Minister Narendra Modi before swearing-in of new government

NEW DELHI: High-level sources in the PDP have said there will be no swearing-in of a new government unless the PDP receives assurance from the "highest level" that the letter and spirit of the Agenda For Alliance will be respected and upheld.

PDP sources said that the reassurance cannot be given at the level of BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, but must come from either the home minister or the Prime Minister.

The seven-day period of state mourning is now over but the stand-off between BJP and PDP has gone beyond the mourning period, said top ranking PDP functionaries.
Mehbooba Mufti is now conveying that she is aggrieved and angry at the way Mufti was treated in the last year, the way he was made to literally beg for the J&K flood relief package, and the way in which the PDP's concerns on dialogue with Pakistan were not met.

"Mehbooba is not an old style magnanimous politician like Mufti Sahab. She is angry at the way her father was treated even when he trusted the BJP," said the source.

Today, the PDP's fortunes in the Valley are floundering, as seen in the rather small turnout both at Mufti Sayeed's funeral and at fourth day Chahurram prayers.

The alliance with the BJP was supposed to lead to the opening of Delhi's coffers for J&K. But the PDP believes that the Centre needlessly delayed on flood relief as the file sanctioning relief remained in the PMO for several months. The late Mufti Sayeed had to run from pillar to post to get the file cleared.

Top leaders of the PDP are also hurt that the PM did not visit the ailing Mufti at AIIMS when Congress chief Sonia Gandhi came twice herself. When Ram Madhav flew in to ask Mehbooba to take oath immediately, she conveyed her deep anger and hurt at the manner in which the BJP had treated its alliance partner in the Valley and had humiliated her father in his last days. When you treated my father so shabbily, do you expect me to immediately say yes to the swearing in just because you want it, she is reported to have conveyed to Ram Madhav.

Unless a reassurance from the PM or HM is given on the Agenda For Alliance with the PDP, the stand off between the allies is set to continue.