Continuing the tradition of a Kashmiri as J&K Chief Minister, People’s Democratic Party chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is likely to head a coalition government in the state between his party and the Congress.Mufti, who arrived here this evening for talks with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said: ‘‘The issue of leadership is a non-issue.’’ However, sources said the PDP has proposed to have a Deputy Chief Minister from the Congress, preferably from Jammu, to cater to ‘‘regional aspirations.’’Mufti’s daughter Mehbooba Mufti told The Indian Express that both parties needed to forge a common minimum programme to make the alliance work. And although sources said this may be worked out by Wednesday, it’s here that the stumbling blocks lie.The PDP, on its part, is doing some hard posturing. ‘‘We have decided that we will not join hands with any political party which does not agree to our basic programme. We will not compromise on that. We will first deliberate on this with the Congress and only then will the issue of chief ministership come up,’’ said Mehbooba, who spearheaded the PDP campaign.‘‘We will prefer to sit in the Opposition but will not compromise on our poll manifesto. The mandate that we have received is on the promises made in our manifesto and we will do exactly that.’’She said her party was for unconditional dialogue with militants and was going to press for it.‘‘We want an end to the sufferings of Kashmiris, the daily killings and harassment. We want an end to POTA. We want to dismantle the Special Operations Group and merge it with the police,’’ Mehbooba said.‘‘If we join the government, we will call for cases of people who have disappeared while in custody of security agencies. In fact, we will ensure the rule of law which was missing during the National Conference government,’’ she said. The PDP poll manifesto, if implemented, can put both the Centre and the Congress in a spot. The PDP plans to start with the disbanding of the SOG, the counter-insurgency arm of the J&K police.The Centre will also have cause for concern when the PDP calls for initiation of a dialogue with Pakistan over the Kashmir problem. This is at the core of the PDP poll manifesto. The future does not augur well for the NC, still an NDA member. The PDP plans to set up an accountability commission, Ehtisab, to probe into allegations of corruption against former government functionaries and leaders.
