New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh here. According to official sources, both leaders discussed matters concerning the state. Significantly enough the meeting comes close on the heels of series of developments related to Article 35-A. Earlier this month, Ms Mufti had met BJP general secretary Ram Madhav and also Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The cold war between the BJP and its partner PDP of Ms Mahbooba vis-a-vis Article 35A has definitely brought the alliance under stress. The debate surrounding the special provisions for the northern state is slowly turning up into a major legal and constitutional row following a petition filed in the Supreme Court that has sought the abrogation of the Article.
The said Article pressed into action through a Presidential order gives powers to the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to define permanent residents of the state and their privileges. In the process people from the rest of the country and even Kashmiri women married outside their caste to an Indian residing in other parts of India cannot purchase land in Jammu and Kashmir. The meeting between the state Chief Minister and the Union Home Minister also came amid reports that the incumbent Governor N N Vohra, 81, is insisting on giving up his responsibility.
