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Mehbooba Mufti meets Narendra Modi on PDP-BJP alliance

by IBNS 21 Mar 2016, 08:18 pm

New Delhi, Mar 22 (IBNS) PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeping alive the hope for a renewed partnership between her party and the BJP to form government in Jammu and Kashmir, reports said.

On Monday, Finance Minister Arun Jatiley made clear the BJP's stand, saying, "We are committed to the alliance agenda. Mehbooba has to make up her mind."

Mufti, who had met BJP president Amit Shah last week, had to return  to Jammu and Kashmir without any solution with two parties maintaining distant stands.

The BJP and PDP had agreed to the "agenda for alliance" when they joined hands last year to govern Jammu and Kashmir. That partnership was engineered by Mehbooba Mufti's father and Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Saeed, who died in early January this year. Mehbooba Mufti has since refused to take oath as chief minister till some key demands of her party are met by the Centre.

 BJP and PDP had joined hands last year after no party got a majority in state elections. The PDP is the largest party with 28 seats - now 27 following  Sayeed's death - in the 87-member house. The BJP is second with 25 seats.