Can the election of new Srinagar mayor spark formation of a third regional force in Kashmir?

Junaid Azim Mattu’s election as mayor of Srinagar, with the blessings of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is likely to be a shot in the arm for new political forces in Jammu and Kashmir that are trying to emerge as an alternative to the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the two regional heavyweights that have dominated politics in the troubled state for decades, analysts said.

Mattu, 34, a former financial analyst who returned from the US barely a decade ago to join politics, was the NC’s spokesperson and considered a confidante of former chief minister Omar Abdullah, but left the party in September after it decided not to contest local body elections. Mattu contested from three wards of the city as an independent and won all. He was backed by Peoples Conference chairman Sajjad Lone and PDP dissident legislator Imran Reza Ansari.

Lone is considered close to the BJP and was a minister in the PDP-BJP government in the state till the two broke up and the state came under Governor’s Rule this June.

He was made a minister under the BJP’s quota in that administration.

Mattu, 34, is conscious of the change he represents or wants to. “We have come to the mainstream as an alternative, as a change,” he said in Srinagar on Tuesday, flanked by Sajjad Lone and Irfan Ansari, the brother of Imran Ansari.

Lone himself has spoken of the changing dynamics in the state with reference to his party. “We are a party of Jammu and Kashmir, of course, and we were thinly spread in small pockets of influence. But yes, inshallah, I am hopeful this is a very fast

SRINAGAR: JUNAID MATTU WAS NC’S SPOKESPERSON BUT LEFT THE PARTY AFTER IT DECIDED TO BOYCOTT LOCAL POLLS