Nitish, Kejriwal condole Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's death

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday condoled the demise of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, who breathed his last at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here due to multiple organ failure.

"Deeply saddened to hear of Mufti Sahib's demise. My condolences to his family and supporters," tweeted Nitish.

Kejriwal also took to twitter to express his grief.

"V sad to hear abt Shri Mufti Mohd. Sayeed's demise. May his soul rest in peace. Heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, People's Democratic Party (PDP) has hinted that party president Mehbooba Mufti would take over as the next Chief Minister.

"This matter was not decided, but obviously our choice is the party's president Mehbooba ji. Mehbooba ji has worked against all odds, she is the only choice in the party," said PDP leader Rafiq Mir.

Several prominent leaders, including Vice President Mohamed Hamid Ansari, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti visited the AIIMS on hearing of Sayeed's demise.

Sayeed, who was born in 1936 in Bijbehara, Jammu and Kashmir, had previously served as Chief Minister from 2002 to 2005. He was also the Home Minister of India from December 1989 to November 1990.

He had founded the Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party in 1999.