Karan Singh’s son quits PDP
Accuses party of ‘ignoring issues close to heart of Jammu people’
Vikramaditya Singh, the grandson of the last Dogra maharaja Hari Singh, on Sunday quit the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), accusing the party, its leader and chief minister Mehbooba Mufti of ignoring the issues “which are close to the heart of the Jammuites”.
He said that Ms Mufti unlike her father has failed to work towards uniting all the three region of Jammu and Kashmir, namely the Kashmir Valley, Jammu and Ladakh. “She is the chief minister of entire Jammu and Kashmir and not just of one region,” he said. He said that apart from quitting the PDP, he has decided to resign as the member of Jammu and Kashmir’s Legislative Council.
While addressing a press conference in Jammu, Mr Singh, who is the son of veteran Congress leader Karan Singh, said that he has written a letter to the chief minister highlighting the issues over which serious differences had developed between him and the PDP leadership. Earlier, he posted his resignation letter on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.com.
He said that the people of Jammu had demanded that a state holiday be declared on September 23 on the birth anniversary of his grandfather Maharaja Hari Singh, the Dogra rule period be included in the school curriculum and the Rohingya Muslims be thrown out of Jammu. However, the government ignored these despite the fact that “these issues are close to the heart of the Jammu people”.
He said, “On many occasions, I raised issues like Dogra certificate, illegal settlement of Rohingyas in Jammu, ignoring history of Dogras in education department and discrimination in PSCs but my party never supported me.”
Mr Singh who had joined the PDP in presence of party patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in Jammu about four years ago also said, “I looked upon myself as the PDP face for all communities in the Jammu region and worked to strengthen the party, always keeping in mind the secular fabric of our region.”
He, however, lamented that there was a growing regional divide in the state which could be bridged by addressing the issues he has highlighted.