Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday clarified she did not want to form a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2016, but a potential split in her People’s Democratic Party (PDP) forced her to do so. She blamed some of the leaders, who have since quit the PDP, for forcing her hand by travelling to the headquarters of BJP ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in Nagpur to convey their readiness to break the party to form a government without her.

“After the death of my father [Mufti Mohammad Sayeed] in 2016, I did not want to form a government with the BJP and had put some conditions like getting back power projects [in Jammu and Kashmir from the Centre], land under army….,” said Mufti at an event to commemorate her father on his third death anniversary.

Mufti succeeded her father, who had earlier formed a government with the BJP, in March 2015, as the state’s first woman chief minister in April 2016. She took over three months after Sayeed passed away in January 2016 despite concerns over further erosion of her base after seeking votes to keep the BJP out in 2014 assembly polls.

Mufti blamed the leaders for weakening her position. “…some demands, which the BJP was ready to accept, got scuttled,’’ said Mufti. She asked the youth to join the PDP as the people with “selfish goals” have left the party. Mufti was referring to six legislators, including former ministers Imran Raza Ansari, Haseeb Drabu, Javaid Mustafa Mir and Basharat Bukhari, who have left the party since Mufti lost power in June after the BJP pulled out of her coalition government.

Imran Ansari, Abbas Ansari, and Wani have joined BJP ally and former separatist Sajad Lone’s Peoples Conference. Bukhari has joined Mufti’s arch rival, former chief minister Omar Abdullah’s National Conference.

Mufti highlighted her achievements as the chief minister. “I tried to extend [the June 2018] ceasefire [during the Muslim fasting month of Ramazan] for months. I ensured justice in Rasana…’’ she said, referring to alleged rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in the state’s Kathua district in January 2018.

First Published: Jan 07, 2019 23:41 IST