Srinagar: PDP chief spokesman Naeem Akhtar said his party was taking it slow as it was a “tough call”. He also said: “No structured dialogue as such is on with any party at the moment.”

The PDP, he said, had simultaneously step-ped up its internal consultation process on cobbling up an alli-ance. “We have intensified internal consult-ation process. Party patron Mufti Sahib spoke to many newly-elected legislators and will talk to others tom-orrow. He has asked them to confer with party cadres to get the feedback on different options available to it,” Mr Akhtar said.

There are, however, indications that the BJP and the PDP are inching towards an agreement on issues being picked up for threadbare discussion on a priority basis. Both have, however, den-ied media reports that said one major point on which the two do not differ any more is who will be the Chief Minister of the state and for what period of time.

These reports claim that PDP patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed will be CM of the coalition government for the full six years, as the BJP has agreed to renounce the idea of a Hindu CM.