CM meets Guv before leaving for Delhi

Jammu/New Delhi: Amid the growing debate over the repealing of special status to the state, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti met Governor N.N. Vohra at the Raj Bhavan on Thursday morning to apprise the Governor of the sensitive political situation that has prevailed over the state in past couple of days, before boarding a flight, later in the noon, to New Delhi where she has sought a meeting with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders of other political parties.
The Chief Minister briefed the Governor about her Party’s views and the discussions which she has had with leaders of various political parties regarding threat to Article 35-A of the Constitution of India, besides other issues which included the ongoing anti-terrorist operations, maintenance of law and order, establishing capacity and outreach for effective implementation of GST, present pace of tourist arrivals in the Valley, implementation of important development schemes and projects and functioning of the Universities.
The situation in the state has grown particularly sensitive in recent days after the Supreme Court set a timeline of six weeks for final disposal of a petition filed before it, seeking abrogation of the Article 35-A which grants special status to the state. While all the other major parties have come out together in defence of the said Article- with NC patron Dr Farooq Abdullah warning of a ‘far greater agitation than Amarnath land row’ if the article was struck down by the Supreme Court- the state unit of BJP, PDP’s coalition partner, has stayed largely mum on the issue.
The meeting at Rajbhavan was CM Mufti’s third high-profile meeting in three days over the issue of special status provided to Jammu and Kashmir by Article 35-A of constitution and the abrogation of which is sought in a petition filed in the Supreme Court. Earlier, CM Mufti held two separate meetings with main opposition leaders which included NC Patron Dr. Farooq Abdullah, State Congress President G A Mir, besides CPI (M) State Secretary, M Y Tarigami, PDF Chairman Hakeem Yaseen, DPN president Ghulam Hassan Mir, at her Gupkar residence in Srinagar on Tuesday evening.
The opposition parties had suggested the chief minister to lead an All Party Delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apprise him about the implications of thepetition that seeks abrogation of Article 35-A, a provision added to the Constitution by a Presidential Order in 1954, which accords special rights and privileges to Jammu and Kashmir citizens and empower its legislature to frame any law without attracting a legal challenge.
Later on Thursday, CM Mufti left for New Delhi where she was likely to meet PM Modi in the evening to brief him over the legal challenges to the special status accorded to the state and the possible backlash in the state if Article 35-A was abrogated. However, the sources inform that CM Mufti’s meeting with the Prime Minister was postponed to Friday.
Chief Minister Mufti, though, met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday. The meeting lasted for nearly 45 minutes, officials said without elaborating about the topics that were discussed.
The chief minister is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow afternoon which is to be followed by a courtsey call on to the newly appointed President Ram Nath Kovind, they said.
It was not immediately clear whether Mehbooba would be meeting leaders of other political parties including that from the Congress, Janata Dal(U) and Left parties.
Mehbooba is keen to build consensus against scrapping the Constitutional provision, which empowers the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to define the state's "permanent residents" and their special rights and privileges, they said.
It may be recalled that in 2014, an NGO, We the Citizens, had filed a writ petition seeking striking down of Article 35-A. The J&K government filed a counter-affidavit and sought dismissal of the petition. Last month, Attorney General K K Venugopal told the Supreme Court Bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud that the petition raised Constitutional issues after which the court referred the matter to a three-judge bench and set six weeks for final disposal.
The Central government had said in July, “there was need for a ‘larger debate’ on the issue of declaring the article unconstitutional.
The abrogation of provision which prohibits all Indians - except people from Jammu and Kashmir - from purchasing immovable property in the state, getting government jobs and availing state-sponsored scholarship schemes, has remained a long pending demand of BJP, even before it came to power in Jammu and Kashmir, forming a coalition government, in 2014 elections.
However, with CM Mufti likely to meet Prime Minister today, there are chances of more clarity being reflected on the issue.