J&K: Mufti Mohammad Sayeed set to become CM, hint sources

New Delhi, Feb 21: People's Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is set to become the next chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir after his party reportedly arrived at a consensus with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on various contentious issues including Article 370 and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

Sources close to Sayeed told IANS that the PDP and BJP have reached a consensus on the draft of the common minimum programme on sensitive issues like Article 370, AFSPA and the condition of West Pakistan refugees who had come to the state after the Indo-Pak wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971.

As per the agreement, Mufti will be chief minister of the state for the entire term of six years, said an IANS report. It will be unlike the previous time when the Congress and the PDP took charge of the chief minister's post by turns for three years each.

Sayeed had served as the CM between 2002 and 2005 when Ghulam Nabi Azad took over.

The PDP won 28 out of 87 seats in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election while the BJP managed 25 seats. The National Conference, which was in power before since 2008, won 15 seats while the Congress could win only 12.
The magic figure of forming a government in Jammu and Kashmir is 44.

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