Mufti Sayeed likely to continue as IHK CM

SRINAGAR: The continuation of Indian Held Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in the saddle beyond November seemed most likely by a significant remark made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Chandigarh on Saturday and Congress President Sonia Gandhi who called off her trip to Srinagar on October 4 to consult Congress workers for the appointment of a Congress chief minister.

The Congress recently had initiated its search for a chief minister candidate that comes to its fold under the power-sharing accord it has with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of Mufti Sayeed, to rule for three years each. Manmohan Singh’s remark that Jammu and Kashmir will continue to make progress under the leadership of Mufti Sayeed has been interpreted in Jammu and Kashmir and in New Delhi as the Congress having second thoughts on pressing for the implementation of the accord to have its own chief minister for the remaining three years of the assembly’s tenure. Only two days ago, AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni had announced the postponement of Sonia’s trip to Srinagar for a Congress conference on October 4 and 5. She had cited a Congress chief ministers’ conference in Chandigarh on October 8 as the reason for Sonia putting off her Srinagar trip. iftikhar gilani

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