Sonia Gandhi arrives in Kashmir on a day's visit

Srinagar, Sep 10 (UNI) UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi arrived here today on a day-long visit to Kashmir valley.

Accompanied by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patel, Union Water Resources Minister Prof Saifuddin Soz and Union Women and child development minister Renuka Chowdhary, Mrs Gandhi was received at the airport by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, his cabinet colleagues, Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti and other senior Congress leaders.

She was taken to Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Complex (SKICC) on the bank of the famed Dal Lake in a helicopter where she is scheduled to address a one-day women's conference.

Official sources said she will also meet senior Congress leaders of the state and will have separate meeting with the leaders of PDP, a partner in the Congress-led coalition government in the state.

The scheduled meeting with PDP leaders assumes significance in view of the recent decision by the Chief Minister stripping a senior PDP minister Qazi Mohammad Afzal of the forest portfolio.

Mr Afzal had later resigned as Housing and Urban Development Minister from the cabinet. However, his resignation was not accepted by the Chief Minister.

But things became complicated in the coalition after Qazi Afzal refused to rejoin as Housing and Urban Development minister, seeking a clarification from Mr Azad why the forest portfolio was stripped from him.

The PDP said the Chief Minister took the decision without taking into confidence the alliance partners.

UNI