Mehbooba Mufti likely to take oath as J&K CM today

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, 56, is expected to take oath on Friday afternoon as the first woman chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. She will succeed her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who died in Delhi on Thursday after a brief illness.

It may be noted that Mehbooba will also be the country's first Muslim woman chief minister. The oath ceremony is likely to take place at around 3 or 3.30 on Friday afternoon, sources said. Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav is expected to attend the ceremony.

The BJP will then hand a formal letter supporting Mehbooba Mufti for chief minister to Governor NN Vohra. The PDP has already conveyed to the Governor that Mehbooba Mufti, the party's president, is its



choice for chief minister.

Mehbooba Mufti has her share of detractors in the state BJP, but sources say the Mufti's sudden death left it with little time for negotiations with its ally. In Jammu and Kashmir, which has special status, Governor's Rule is imposed immediately in case a chief minister dies as the post cannot be kept vacant.

Also, the crucial Budget session of the state assembly begins on January 18 and a chief minister must be in place by then.

Mehbooba began her political career in 1996, joining the Congress. In 1999, she was by her father's side as he broke away from the Congress and launched the PDP. Mehbooba is a Lok Sabha MP; she retained her seat south Kashmir seat in 2014.