Jammu, Dec 13 |15: Many newspapers have quoted Mehbooba Mufti as saying that she does not want to be Chief Minister, at this juncture. She said in an interview that her father, the incumbent Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, is more suited for the job. She also said that Mr Mufti had proposed that she take the mantle of CM. Easier said than done. She knows too well that the BJP, and the RSS, those behind it, will not accept her becoming the CM just like that. That is one reason for her saying no to her father’s proposal. She has weighed the pros and cons of the possible BJP reaction to a formal proposal from her party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). Her father’s proposal has remained more of a trial balloon than anything else. It has helped her father, herself, and other party leaders the reactions from the coalition partner, the BJP. All of them now know well that the deal that was struck in February 2015 will be re-opened once it is mooted that she become the CM. The PDP was very lucky in the February deal as the odds went heavily in its favour. Mr Ram Madhav and Mr Nirmal Singh lead the negotiations from the BJP side. But it is dawning on the RSS and the BJP now that the negotiations should have gone for them more favourably. With the post of the CM being given to Mufti for all six years, the BJP (and the RSS) now think that far more ministries should have come their way. That they should have been given more ministries in lieu of Mufti being made the whole time CM. After all, the number of MLAs on the BJP side was not less than that of the PDP. The PDP had 28 MLAs, and the number of MLAs on the BJP side was also the same. Simple mathematics shows that the BJP had won in 25 constituencies, and had 25 MLAs, of its own. Then, Pawan Gupta, the MLA from Udhampur, was its own rebel candidate. He had pledged his support to the BJP, and that swelled the party numbers to 26. In the Kashmir Valley, the Peoples’ Conference led by Sajjad Gani Lone had decided to support the BJP, and not PDP. For good, sound reasons. The PDP was a Valley-based party and was its electoral competitor. Not so the BJP which had a token presence in Kashmir. However, it could only help the Sajjad group to emerge stronger. Two MLAs of Sajjad Lone’s PC also went out to support the BJP, in negotiations as well. They pledged support, to the BJP, and not Mufti’s PDP. This made the number of MLAs on the BJP side stand at 28, same as on the side of the BJP. In the end, it is believed that the PDP managed to strike a very good deal, while the deal was so, so, for the BJP. Later, those weighing things started terming it as a raw deal for the BJP. Now, if the PDP proposes Mehbooba as CM, in place of her father, those behind the scenes would welcome it. They would want the whole deal to be done anew, pressing hard for more ministries etc for the BJP. This is something the PDP will not want. Anyway. Many years ago, in 1983, Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference had won a majority, after Sheikh Abdullah’s death in September 1982. Next year, he was toppled, with the Congress help, and prodding. Mufti was then in the Congress and played not a so innocent role in the toppling. He remembers things that he did, or did not do, at that time well. Some of the people who were with Mufti then, in the Congress, are with him now too. What could happen to Farooq Abdullah then, can be a possibility against Mehbooba too. No? Behind Mehbooba saying no to the CM’s post can be those memories too. So, why take the risk? Stay on the high moral pedestal as long as she can is a motto for Mehbooba. For the time being at least.
