After failing to achieve an settlement with its INDIA bloc ally Nationwide Convention (NC), the Peoples Democratic Celebration (PDP) on Sunday fielded candidates from all three seats within the Kashmir Valley on Sunday. The choice of the PDP, which had been pushing for at the least one seat from Kashmir, got here virtually every week after the NC fielded candidates from the constituencies. It additionally raises the query about who the Congress will again within the Valley.
Whereas former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti can be within the fray from Anantnag-Rajouri, the social gathering’s youth chief Waheed ur Rehman Parra can be within the fray from Srinagar. The PDP has nominated former Rajya Sabha MP Fayaz Ahmad Mir, who not too long ago returned to the social gathering fold, as its candidate from Baramulla.
“I’d have introduced a younger candidate (from Anantnag) however Delhi has targeted all its efforts on south Kashmir. I’m a fighter and settle for the problem. I enchantment to all Kashmiri, our Gujjar and Pahari brothers in addition to Sikh and Hindu brothers to ship that voice which might signify them with out concern to Parliament,” Mufti stated whereas asserting her candidature.
She additionally made it clear that the PDP would help the Congress, its INDIA bloc ally, in Jammu and reiterated that she was trying to ally with the NC however was pressured to go solo after its leaders publicly questioned the “PDP’s existence”. She stated, “We had left the choice to Farooq Abdullah. We might not thoughts even when that they had contested all of the seats however they need to have at the least consulted us. They need to not have demeaned our social gathering and employees by saying they are going to see our behaviour within the Lok Sabha polls earlier than deciding on the alliance for the Meeting elections.”
Mufti additionally hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for referring to the Congress manifesto because the “Muslim League manifesto”, saying that whereas the grand previous social gathering talks of jobs, farmers’ welfare, and stipends to youth, the BJP retains “repeating Pakistan” as they don’t have anything else to say.
Listed below are the PDP’s three candidates:
Mehbooba Mufti
The previous Jammu and Kashmir CM is the glue that binds the PDP collectively. The 64-year-old is the primary and solely girl CM of the erstwhile state and is credited with reviving the political fortunes of her father and former CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
The PDP chief started her profession with the Congress and was elected as an MLA from Bijbehara in south Kashmir for the primary time in 1996 – the primary polls within the Valley after the 1987 Meeting elections, which had been marred by allegations of widespread rigging.
She then stop the Congress together with her father and floated the PDP the place her “smooth separatism” and attain amongst folks is believed to be the explanation for the social gathering gaining acceptability, particularly in south Kashmir.
When the PDP first got here to energy in 2002, Mehbooba was elected as MLA from Pahalgam. In 2004, she gained the parliamentary polls from Anantnag (because the constituency was then referred to as) and within the Meeting elections 4 years later, she gained from Wachi in Shopian.
In 2009, Mehbooba changed her father on the helm of the PDP and 5 years later, she was elected to Parliament once more from Anantnag. Following Sayeed’s demise in 2016, when he was heading the state authorities in alliance with the BJP, she took over as the primary girl CM of the state.
Throughout her stint as CM, Mehbooba held her fort towards BJP ministers in the course of the Kathua episode. When the BJP walked out of the federal government in 2018, her recognition was at its lowest because of an increase in civilian killings. Within the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, she contested from Anantnag and completed third behind the NC’s Hasnain Masoodi and the Congress’s Ghulam Ahmad Mir.
Hailing from Bijbehara in south Kashmir, Mehbooba is the one “native” within the fray in Anantnag and is seen because the PDP’s greatest wager. The seat is seemingly headed for a triangular struggle with Mufti’s entry. She’s going to tackle Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Democratic Progressive Azad Celebration (DPAP) and Gujjar chief Mian Altaf of the NC. The BJP has but to announce its candidate and is more likely to again Azad.
Waheed ur Rehman Parra
Parra’s initiation into politics was by way of his grandfather who was an in depth aide of Sayeed. He formally joined the PDP in 2013 and was subsequently appointed its youth president.
His candidature is being seen on account of the delimitation of parliamentary seats in 2022, following which six Meeting segments of south Kashmir, the place Parra holds sway, turned a part of the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat.
Seen as having wonderful organisation expertise, 37-year-old Parra was publicly praised by former Union Dwelling Minister Rajnath Singh for his youth engagement initiatives within the Valley. Because the secretary of the sports activities council, he was seen to be a key participant in waning youth away from violence and into the mainstream.
Following the abrogation of Article 370 and days after he filed his nomination for the District Improvement Council (DDC) polls, Parra was arrested by the Nationwide Investigation Company (NIA) in a case of alleged terror funding. He gained from Pulwama, his residence turf, whereas in jail. However regardless of courtroom orders, Parra was not allowed to take oath as a DDC member after his launch on bail. He has been credited with spreading the social gathering’s grassroots community, particularly in south Kashmir.
On Parra’s candidature from Srinagar, the place he’s more likely to tackle NC vice-president Omar Abdullah, the previous CM stated there was no larger instance than him if one wished to see what the youth of Kashmir had confronted and tolerated, particularly since 2019. “He was arrested and tortured. His father had cancer however they (authorities) didn’t permit him to go and see him. In addition they prevented him from visiting his nephew, who was combating for his life in Delhi,” Mehbooba stated.
Fayaz Ahmad Mir
Fayaz (47) misplaced the 2014 Meeting elections from Kupwara to Bashir Ahmad Dar of the Peoples Convention by a wafer-thin margin of 133 votes. He was appointed the Rajya Sabha MP in 2015 and his relations with the PDP turned bitter following the abrogation of Article 370.
He was later expelled and joined the Peoples Convention, a celebration recognized to have a robust presence in Kupwara. In September 2023, following a tumultuous tenure within the social gathering, he stop citing “household causes”.
Mir returned to the PDP in March and can be within the fray from a seat the place the social gathering stood fourth in 2019. Mehbooba stated Fayaz had expressed remorse and returned to the social gathering. “When (Article) 370 was abrogated, I requested him to resign from the Higher Home. He didn’t and I expelled him from the social gathering. He has now returned and has an identification amongst folks,” she stated.
Whereas he isn’t anticipated to be among the many frontrunners within the struggle for Baramulla, his entry is more likely to dent the prospects of Peoples Convention candidate Sajad Lone.
