Off the wire
• Beware of incompetence, Xi tells officials  • Lawmakers call for greater incentives for inventors  • 1st LD-Writethru: Weapon makers, telecom operators propel Chinese shares  • China's to target "red-hatted" intermediaries  • Feature: Thang Long Imperial Citadel stands as historical testament to Vietnam's power center  • Sri Lankan FM reassures Chinese investors  • Chinese lawmakers pave way for rural land use pilot program  • French households' consumption grows 0.6 pct in January  • Roundup: Conflict, blast kill 14 militants in Afghanistan  • China rejects U.S. charges on South China Sea  
You are here: 　 Home

Indian PM meets Sayeed on forming gov't in Indian-controlled Kashmir

Xinhua, February 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Ahead of forming coalition government in Indian-controlled Kashmir, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday met with Mufti Mohammed Sayeed to finalize the deal.

Sayeed called on Modi at his residence in New Delhi to give finishing touches to the alliance between them.

Sayeed will be the chief minister of the region and swearing-in ceremony would take place on Sunday in Jammu city, the region's winter capital.

Meeting between the two leaders came days after India's ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) agreed to form a coalition with region' s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

BJP and PDP are ideologically opposite to each other and hold divergent views on main issues such as withdrawal of military from restive region, granting of special powers to military personnel.

The two parties would be running the region on the commitments mentioned in common minimum programme (CMP).

Sayeed told reporters that Modi has agreed to attend his swearing-in ceremony."The CMP of the government will be released late afternoon on Sunday after the swearing-in ceremony," he said.

Coalition between the two parties was reached after they failed to win the majority single-handedly.

Sayeed, patron of PDP will be returning as chief minister after a gap of more than nine years.

This will be for the first time that rightwing Hindu nationalist party BJP would rule the Muslim majority region.

Leaders of the two parties held a series of deliberations over two months to cobble up coalition.

PDP, as a regional party, emerged as the largest party in recently held local elections in the region.

Indian-controlled Kashmir is currently under India's direct rule and region's Governor N N Vohra is running the affairs.

Last year's election results in the region threw a fractured verdict, with no party winning majority in the restive region.

PDP emerged as the largest party with 28 seats, followed by BJP with 25.

Indian-controlled Kashmir is a Muslim majority region with 87- strong assembly (lawmaking body).

The two parties BJP and PDP together have 53 seats. Endi