She made it clear in her 45—minute meeting with governor N N Vora that “nothing short of concrete confidence building measures from Delhi” would enable her to take the responsibility. While putting the ball in the centre’s court, Mehbooba said she did not want an atmosphere in which her father was forced to operate despite having undertaken the grave political risk in his career by aligning with the BJP. What she meant was that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to walk the extra mile to assuage the “hurt” of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The CBMs can be decoded as return of two power projects, recognition of the special status of the state, no unsettling issues like ban on beef eating and tampering with the respect accorded to the state’s flag.

Significantly, Mehbooba said “I don’t have the goodwill, experience and vision of Mufti Saheb. He used to say he hasn’t joined hands with Prime Minister Modi but with crores of people who voted for him…. without thinking about electoral politics and the party.”

On its part, the BJP declared it was in favour of the alliance but sought ten more days to spell out its position. “But the PDP should first elect its leader (of the legislature party) and inform the governor. We will respond after that”, said BJP leader Nirmal Singh who was part of the party’s three-member delegation that called on the governor.

Tipped to become the next chief minister after death of Mufti Sayeed on January 7, she had then hoped that her father’s gamble to stitch an alliance with the ideologically opposite BJP would work. Her father’s government was cash-starved and faced unrest as victims of the devastating floods in 2014 were getting frustrated and angry over relief that was down to a trickle. This was costing the party where it mattered most--- its core vote-base.

Her party felt the Centre’s flood rehabilitation package was too little, too late. Formed in February 2015 after a fractured poll verdict and two months of hardnosed deliberations, fault-lines within alliance showed up early. The first instance was release of hard line separatist Masarat Alam, which the PDP said was not done at its behest.

The government appeared to be governing two states—a Jammu that voted the Narendra Modi-led BJP to power and a Kashmir which voted to keep him out. Instead of governance, the two parties, forced to firefight one niggling issue of even ad hoc or temporary employees. Civic elections never found a mention. The two assembly sessions witnessed almost negligible work, marked by protests and walk-outs. No projects were announced while the old ones suffered of fund crunch. Disillusionment was rife and, for the first time, local militants outnumbered militants from abroad. PDP stronghold of south Kashmir soon turned into a hotbed of militancy.

The PDP, which witnessed a golden era during Mufti’s 2002 stint at the helm, lost face both on development as well as politically. Ironically, Mufti Sayeed and Narendra Modi had come together in 2015 to give good governance to the troubled state but they could not achieve that objective. The PDP had contested the Assembly election on the promise of keeping the BJP out of power in the state, but it ultimately became its ally. On February 7, the state completes a month without an elected government.

The thinking within the PDP is that the alliance with the BJP is costing its vote share and the party needs strong populist measures to win back the confidence of the people. It is threat of losing Muslim majority constituencies in the Kashmir valley that is pushing Mehbooba to wait and emerge in a new aggressive avatar as a leader.

A mid-rung PDP leader close to the party’s inner circle said the party has no option but to go ahead with the alliance. “We were losing when in the government and are losing when out of it. It is a very difficult position”, he said, adding Mehbooba hardened her stance on fresh assurances was “symbolically important”. He said Mehbooba’s stand was helping the party in regaining the confidence of voters. “There is a change in public perception. At least, people are not saying they will be sold”, he added. (IPA Service)