Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passed away at AIIMS, Delhi, on Thursday morning. J&K Education Minister Naeem Akhtar confirmed the news a little after 8 am.
Sayeed, 79, was admitted to AIIMS on December 24 with complaints of neck pain and fever, and it was then detected he had sepsis, decreased blood count and pneumonia. Since then, he had been in the Intensive Care Unit.
Sayeed took over as chief minister of the PDP-BJP coalition government on March 1 last year. His health had sparked off speculation that there could be a possible change of guard. Sayeed had himself hinted last November during a press conference in Jammu that he would like to hand over the reins to his daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, who is now expected to succeed her father as chief minister.
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