Apni Party not B-team of BJP: Altaf Bukhari
SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party, a new entrant to the political arena of the union territory, is not a “B-team” of the BJP or the “King’s party” as described by political rivals like the National Conference and the PDP but an outfit which has no history of being a dynasty, its chief Altaf Bukhari said on Sunday.
“In fact, when the words like King’s party and B-team were coined, I simply laughed. The National Conference enjoyed power with the BJP from 1999 and the PDP had an alliance with the BJP post 2014 assembly polls and my party has been given such names. In other words, they are the actual B-team of the BJP,” Bukhari, a businessman-turned-politician, told PTI in his office here.
With people queuing up at his office for various work, Bukhari took a dig at the NC as well as the PDP and said it seems that these parties do not like anyone other than their family members to meet people in Delhi.
“It is ironic that a party which has not got any benefit from Delhi is termed B-team...those who enjoyed fruits of power, courtesy the BJP, they call us B-team. People will have to really expose these state actors who are just to retain their hold on power, and want to create doubts about anybody who is new to politics,” Bukhari, who was a minister in the governments led by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti, said.
Bukhari, who along with some leaders formed the JKAP in March 2020, said the party is new and “we all are trying to emerge on the political scene of Jammu and Kashmir with changed realities”.
“Just because I went to Delhi and met the prime minister to discuss the release of people from jails, allay fears of any demographic change and ensure there is no loss of jobs and land...why are they (the NC and PDP) crying on that.
“Because they think it is their domain to go to Delhi, they think it is their hereditary right to meet people in the power corridors in Delhi and when somebody like Altaf Bukhari meets the prime minister, he becomes an agent of Delhi.
“This has always been their right from 1947. Whenever anybody other than these families go to Delhi, they call them agents of Delhi or they call them B-team of Delhi or ruling party. They have been bullying everyone only to ensure they retain their monopoly on power in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said