From prompt relocation of troops to a free hand to engage separatists, the preconditions set by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti to its coalition partner, BJP, is aimed at securing space for political and development projects started by the late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.
A top PDP leader told The Hindu that the relocation of troops announced by the former Chief Minister was not taken to the logical end because of the “poor response” from New Delhi.
Mufti on September 29 last year identified places in his public statement where troops were supposed to be relocated to within a deadline he set.
Party insiders said the PDP also nurses a grudge against the last-minute downsizing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Rs. 80,000-crore package announced in Srinagar in November. Party sources said a senior PDP Minister made a presentation before the Union Power Ministry last July for a Rs. 43,850-crore stimulus in the power sector.
Several PDP leaders admitted that the poor relief provided for the 2014 flood victims did “shoo away a significant number of PDP sympathisers, particularly in Srinagar, affecting their political prospectus in the long run”. Another top PDP leader underlined that “the BJP’s growing judicial activism over the beef issues, Article 35 (a) and separate State flag” were the causes for the trust deficit.
