File photo: PDP's Mufti Mohammad Sayeed
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the patron of BJP ally People's Democratic Party, landed in Delhi this evening for his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Sayeed, who is taking oath on Sunday as the next chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, will meet PM Modi at 9.30 am tomorrow. The veteran PDP leader is expected to formally invite the Prime Minister for the oath ceremony.
The two leaders are also expected to finalise the modalities of government formation. The BJP is expected to get the deputy chief minister's post.
"We will discuss the Common Minimum Programme tomorrow," Mr Sayeed told reporters in Delhi. But he refused to discuss the issues, saying people would see the results.
The alliance between the two parties announced on Tuesday, had faced a last-minute hitch, which was sorted out at a meeting late on Wednesday night. For a time, there were apprehensions that both the meeting between PM Modi and Mr Sayeed and the oath ceremony, might have to be postponed, sources said.
The two parties, ideological opposites, are expected to govern the state on the basis of a common minimum programme. They spent the last two months in attempts to bridge the political and ideological differences.
In an interview to NDTV, Mr Sayeed had said it was important for PM Modi to realise that this was a "great opportunity" to further the peace process in Jammu and Kashmir and build on the legacy of BJP's iconic leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The two parties have agreed to maintain the state's constitutional status - a key demand of Mr Mufti. On the Armed Forces' Special Powers' Act or AFPSA, which gives the army the authority to make arrests without warrants, the two parties have agreed to the gradual replacement of the military with the local police and paramilitary forces in areas where the security situation has improved, sources said.