Topic 1 : "Mehbooba Mufti’s tough task"

• Vacuum - lack of something
• Mainstream - considered ​normal
• Coalition -  group of people who join together for a common cause
• Succession - a ​process in which someone ​automatically ​takes an ​official ​position or ​job after someone ​else
• Murmurs - to ​complain about something that you ​disagree with or ​dislike, but not in a ​public way
• Dissent - a difference of opinion
• Conciliatory - compromising
• Reluctance - ​unwillingness to do something
• Cross-section - something that has been ​cut in ​half so that you can ​see the inside
• Enormous - very large in size
• Mourning - the expression of sorrow for someone's death.
• Take over/up the reins - to take ​control of something
• Spike - a ​narrow, ​thin ​shape with a ​sharp ​point at one end
• Stronghold - a ​place where a ​particular ​belief or ​activity is ​common
• Slain -  to ​kill in a ​violent way
• Fallout - to ​argue with someone and ​stop being ​friendly with them
• Alliance - a union or association formed for mutual benefit
• Allies - people associated with others for some common cause or purpose
• Rivals - people competing with ​others for the same thing or in the same ​area
• Slightest - smallest
• Misstep - mistake
• Temper - hardness (the ​tendency to ​become ​angry very ​quickly)
• Afloat - out of debt or difficulty.
• Assertiveness - quality of being confident to say what you want / believe
• Diplomacy - the ​management of ​relationships between ​countries
• Flock - group of people