Srinagar, Jan 8: PDP’s chief ministerial candidate Mehbooba Mufti is not ready to take oath before the four-day mourning for her father is over, a senior party leader said on Friday.
“Mehboobaji is not ready and oath-taking will happen only after chahrum (the fourth day ceremony) is over,” said senior leader Muzaffar Hussain Beigh who is tipped to succeed Mehbooba as PDP president.
The state’s chief minister and Mehbooba’s father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, died at AIIMS in Delhi on Thursday leaving the state technically without a government.
Beigh, who is also senior lawyer and a constitutional expert, added that there will be no constitutional crises due to the vacuum. “There will be a few days of governor’s rule but he will be a caretaker till another chief minister takes oath,” said Beigh.
Barring any last-minute hitches, Mehbooba, 56, is set to become the state’s first woman chief minister with coalition partner BJP indicating it was comfortable with her at the helm.
Beigh also stressed that the party does not want to put pressure on Mehbooba. “She is a mother, a daughter, a sister…the tragedy is huge and she is everybody’s source of strength. It will be unfair to force her to do something,” he said.
Though the BJP is yet to submit written support for Mehbooba, Beigh said the ally had no problem with the transition. “My old BJP friends tell me that the party has no problem with Mehboobaji as CM,’’ he added.
