Mehbooba Mufti met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his Race Course Road residence for about 30 minutes on Tuesday morning.
Highlights
- PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, PM Narendra Modi meet for 35 minutes
- 'I am satisfied,' says PDP chief, calling meeting with PM 'very positive'
- Next steps after meeting with party leaders on Thursday, says Ms Mufti
Mehbooba Mufti described as "positive" her meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his Race Course Road residence this morning to discuss government formation in Jammu and Kashmir.
"When you meet the PM then the ways of sorting out problems becomes more clear," the People's Democratic Party or PDP chief said, making no announcement, but promising "next steps" after meeting her party lawmakers in Srinagar on Thursday.
Sources said the 25-minute meeting put the PDP's alliance with the BJP back on track after weeks of wrangling since the death of Ms Mufti's father and Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in January.
Prime Minister Modi, the sources said, praised Mufti Sayeed as "a visionary," and said, "we must follow the positivity of Mufti Sayeed."
The way for a breakthrough in talks and government formation in Jammu and Kashmir was paved by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying on the weekend that the BJP is committed to an "agenda of alliance" agreed upon by the two parties when they joined hands last year to form government in the state under Mufti Sayeed's leadership.
On Monday, Ms Mufti was back in a plane headed to the capital just 48 hours after she had cancelled a meeting with the Prime Minister. That after her meeting with BJP president Amit Shah failed to break the deadlock.
The PDP chief - who refused after her father's death to take oath as chief minister till several demands made by the PDP were met by the BJP-led Centre - has now reportedly told the PM that her party has no new conditions and only wants the agenda of alliance implemented.
The BJP had made it clear that the PDP's demands as a condition for government formation were not acceptable.
Ms Mufti's change of heart is said to have been brought about by a growing impatience among her own party's lawmakers, a majority of who want Mehbooba to renew the partnership with the BJP and form government in the state.
Jammu and Kashmir has been under President's Rule for two months. Mehbooba Mufti's political rival Omar Abdullah of the National Conference met Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra on Monday and urged him to call for fresh elections with the PDP and BJP unable to solve their differences.