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Modi to attend Mufti swearing-in in Kashmir

by India Blooms News Service 26 Feb 2015, 11:57 pm

New Delhi, Feb 27 (IBNS) People's Democratic Party (PDP) supremo Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who will take oath as the next chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, on Friday morning met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said there is a political alliance with the BJP and the PM would be present at his swearing in on Sunday.

After meeting Modi, Mufti said it is both a political alliance with the BJP and then an alliance for governance. 

"I have invited the PM for swearing-in ceremony on March 1 and he said he will be attending the ceremony," said  Mufti.

Mufti said he had a fruitful discussion with Modi and it is an opportunity for both of them. 

Two months after a fractured mandate stood in the way of a government coming to power, People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti and BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday struck a deal on a Common Minimum Programme towards formation of the government in Jammu and Kashmir.

The BJP and the PDP had already agreed to form a coalition government pending the modalities of  CMP that would help them get along.

The government will be headed by  Mufti Mohammed Sayeed with the BJP's Nirmal Singh as his deputy. Their sweraing-in will take place at Jammu University's Zoravar Auditorium on March 1.

The deal reached between Mebooba Mufti and Amit Shah ended two months of negotiations between the two parties aimed at narrowing differences over various contentious issues, including the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

The electorate of Jammu and Kashmir elected a hung Assembly in December last year  with the PDP emerging as the single largest party with 28 seats in the 87-member House. 

The BJP emerged as the second largest party with 25 seats followed by the National Conference at 15 and Congress with 12. Smaller parties and independents won seven seats.