Mehbooba Mufti to meet governor on Wednesday for govt formation

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti will meet Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra Wednesday to discuss government formation in the state, a party leader said.

"In response to the invitation received from the governor, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti will call on Mr. Vohra on Wednesday," PDP chief spokesman Naeem Akhtar told IANS here.

Vohra had sent separate letters to the PDP and the Bharatiya Janata Party to come forward to discuss possibilities of government formation in the state where the recent assembly election threw up a hung assembly.

He had broken precedent by sending letters to two political parties to discuss government formation while normally he should have sent such a communication to the single largest party.

The PDP has won 28 while the BJP won 25 seats in the 87-member state assembly.

Raj Bhavan sources told IANS that while the PDP had emerged as the single-largest party in elections, the BJP had claimed support of six independents who had won the elections and this necessitated a separate letter to them as well.

The new assembly has to be constituted before Jan 16 when the term of the outgoing assembly ends.

Although spokesmen of both the PDP and the BJP have refused to confirm it, top sources in both these parties have told IANS the two are in the final stage of stitching an alliance to claim power in the state.