Ghulam Nabi Azad has claimed that PDP leader Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had snatched the chief ministership of Jammu and Kashmir in 2002 through tantrum and blackmail, challenging the perception that Sonia Gandhi as Congress president showed magnanimity to offer the post to the junior partner.

Mufti passed away in 2016. The Congress refused to engage with Azad on specifics, saying that what stands out is only his betrayal.

Azad, a former Congress veteran, wrote in his autobiography azaad that he was set to become chief minister with the support of 42 MLAs in the House of 87 but the scene changed dramatically because of his own initiative to invite PDP to join the government.

While the Congress had won 20 MLAs, the PDP had 16 and the National Conference had refused to stake claim to form the government despite winning 28 MLAs. Azad claimed the support of 15 independents and four of the Panthers Party, apart from two from CPI and one BSP. With the support of 42, Azad could have reached the majority mark of 44 as there was a provision in J&K Constitution that two woman members can be nominated with voting rights.

Azad writes: “I telephoned the governor and he invited me the following day to discuss the date of oath-taking. A few hours before the meeting with the governor, around 8am, I was in the balcony of my room of Hotel Broadway in Srinagar, having tea with Ashok Bhan, a friend, a Congressman and a lawyer in the Supreme Court, when a thought occurred to me.... I told Bhan that I should ask Mufti’s party to join the government.”

Azad claimed: “I telephoned Mufti and informed him that I would be meeting the governor at 11 am. I suggested that his party could be part of the government.... He said that it was a good idea and immediately invited me for breakfast....”

Mufti asked for three-four days to think.

Mufti was invited to Delhi to meet Sonia. Azad writes: “Mufti thanked Congress president and me for agreeing to his party’s participation in the government. But when he was asked for names from his party who could be part of my government, he suddenly got up in an agitated state and exclaimed, ‘I thought that I had been invited to be the chief minister!....”

Azad claimed: “When matters seemed to be going out of hand, I intervened and requested Sonia ji that an arrangement could be worked out by which I would be CM for the first three years and Mufti could take over for the next three years.”

Azad added: “Mufti.. insisted on being the CM for the first three years. Sonia ji was in no mood to relent. Again, I requested her that in the larger interest of the state, we should agree.”

In response to a question from this newspaper, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said they won’t react without reading the book.

Congress media department chairman Pawan Khera said: “What to say about a man who bartered his commitment and principles for a bungalow in Delhi?” His response, however, was not linked to the claim about Kashmir which Khera declined to engage with.