Mehbooba Mufti must rein in biggies

SRINAGAR: Mehbooba Mufti is set to become the 13th chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, the first woman to climb to that position in the state.

The 56-year-old law graduate from Kashmir University is likely to be sworn in on Friday as the successor to Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, her father who died on Thursday.

She is the president of the People’s Democratic Party that leads the ruling coalition. According to PDP sources, party’s founding member and current rebel, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, and state minister Altaf Bukhari met Governor NN Vohra on Thursday and communicated the decision to nominate Mehbooba as the leader of its legislature party. A formal letter will be handed over to the governor on Friday, they said.

The two leaders, sources said, have requested the governor to administer oath of office to Mehbooba after the last rites of Sayeed were completed. Police have been told to make arrangements for the oath-taking ceremony at SK International Convention Centre on the banks of Dal Lake, they said.

“She deserves to be the CM,” PDP chief spokesperson Mehboob Baig told ET. “She is aware of the grassroot politics and has not parachuted to this position.”

Mehbooba, born on May 22, 1959, is one of the founding members of the PDP, which came into being in 1999 after 151 people signed its vision document demanding self-rule for J&K. Mehbooba, along with another PDP founder Tariq Hamid Karra, were instrumental in breaking its coalition with the Congress in 2008 over the Amarnath Shrine Board land transfer issue. The decision, testifying her political acumen, proved right as the PDP’s tally in the assembly rose to 21 in the following 2008 elections from 16. Mehbooba is currently a member of the Lok Sabha from Anantnag. She will have to either get elected to the assembly or get nominated to the legislative council within six months of becoming the chief minister.

The bigger challenge for Mehbooba, a novice in running a government, will be in managing political stalwarts like Baig and Karra within the party and also not allow coalition partner BJP to underestimate her, in comparison to Mufti Sayeed, who had decades of political experience at his back.