New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given “100 per cent” assurance that he would back the PDP-BJP government’s ‘Agenda of Alliance’, which says that the status of Article 370 can’t be “fiddled with”. She, however, evaded a direct reply on whether the PM had given an assurance on safeguarding the constitutional status quo for the state.

New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given “100 per cent” assurance that he would back the PDP-BJP government’s ‘Agenda of Alliance’, which says that the status of Article 370 can’t be “fiddled with”. She, however, evaded a direct reply on whether the PM had given an assurance on safeguarding the constitutional status quo for the state.

A worried Mehbooba had yesterday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in view of the flared-up sentiments in the Valley over a pending  PIL in the Supreme Court seeking that Article 35A be struck down. The provision grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir. It vests the Assembly with special powers to define “permanent residents” and determine their rights and privileges. While the state government contested the petition, the Centre recently expressed its reservations.

Home Ministry officials yesterday said its law officers would be presenting legal aspects related to Article 35A only and would refrain from joining the case, even as state BJP’s Virendra Gupta demanded that Articles 370 and 35A, that created a “separatist psyche”, be abrogated.