PDP indicates ties with BJP will continue, but doesn't name next CM

The People's Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday indicated its alliance with the BJP will continue in Jammu and Kashmir, but offered no confirmation on when and who will take oath as next chief minister.

"Once Mehbooba Mufti finishes her mourning, she will lead us and take her father's mission forward," PDP's chief spokesperson Mirza Mehboob Beg said.

Beg said a new chief minister will be sworn in after the seven-day official mourning ends on Wednesday. But he denied a report which quoted him as saying Mehbooba will be sworn in after January 13.

The terms of alliance already worked out will continue to govern the relationship between the two parties in the next government," IANS quoted Beg as saying.

Since former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed death, Mehbooba has not spoken a word about government formation, but at the end of the Chahrrum -- fourth day of traditional mourning -- she told legislators to make the party strong.

Earlier in the day, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah denied reports that his party and the Congress had extended support to the PDP for government formation.

"No offers have been made from NC to PDP and none of our proposals been discounted by the PDP. No such possibility is being contemplated," Omar told CNN IBN.

On Sunday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi visited Mehbooba in Srinagar sparking speculation that she was reaching out to an old ally. But Congress leaders promptly denied this saying the visit was only to offer condolences.

Congress has earlier shared power with PDP from 2002 to 2008, with both parties having their chief minister on rotational basis. They later had a bitter split in 2008. In the present 87-member assembly the PDP has 28 seats, the BJP 25, National Conference 15 and the Congress 15.

The BJP, which is confident of the alliance, is waiting for the PDP to officially name its next chief minister. The chief minister's chair fell vacant following the death of PDP stalwart and Mehbooba's father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

The state is now under governor's rule and the budget session of the state assembly, which was scheduled for January 18, has been postponed.