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Mufti Sayeed steps down as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister
by Bilal Butt

     Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Saturday handed over his resignation to the state Governor Lt. General (Retd) S. K. Sinha. He will be replaced by Union Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in line with a power-sharing pact signed between the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Congress Party in 2002. "This coalition has been working effectively in Jammu and Kashmir. If considering the restored sense of security and faith among the people, the United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi had offered me, I would have continued as CM, but I am not surprised at not getting an extension. All is happening according to our agreement," said Sayeed before entering the Governor's official residence. Both Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti pledged to support to the new administration under Azad.

    Meanwhile, the Congress has assured that the change of guard in the state is not going to affect the peace process with Pakistan. "The Congress led government will fulfil the Common Minimum Programme on which the coalition government in the state is supposed to work. The main agenda for our government is to forward the peace process and to bring permanent peace in the state," said Azad. Reacting to a statement given by the Hurriyat leader Ansari in which he said that now Jammu and Kashmir would be ruled from the Centre, Azad said this fact would have positive results, particularly in intensifying the relief and rehabilitation operations in the state. Azad said that relief and rehabilitation in the quake-ravaged regions remained one of the immediate top priorities of his government. He also denied reports of strained relationship between the PDP and the Congress over the transfer of power. The PDP has said that it will be holding a meeting of its legislators on October 30 to choose ministers from the party for the new ministry. The meeting will also decide the nominee for the post of Deputy Chief Minister, which will now go to the PDP under the power-sharing agreement. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, Finance Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beigh and Tourism Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir are among the contenders for this post. The PDP has also convened a meeting on October 31 to discuss the party's future course of action. Congress legislators too will meet on November 1 to formally elect Ghulam Nabi Azad as their leader.

    The two parties had agreed in 2002 to share power on a three-year rotation basis in the six-term of the Assembly after the elections produced a hung verdict. Under the power sharing agreement between the allies, Sayeed's governing PDP was to transfer control of government to the Congress on November 2, after completing three years in office to pave way for the coalition partner to head the alliance government. While earlier there were reports that the Congress was preferring to delay the transfer of power, the PDP was pushing for a quick decision. It had said that uncertainty in the matter was causing confusion in the state's administration and seriously affecting the quake relief operations. Assembly polls in J and K are held every six years, as against other states that go to polls every five years. Following the 2002 elections, which no party could secure a majority, the Congress, the PDP and the Panthers Party, entered into an alliance to keep the then NDA ally and ruling party the National Conference out of power. The NC could win only 28 seats in the polls, which was almost half of its strength in the previous assembly.


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