The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
INDIA bloc collapse in Kashmir complete; after NC, PDP enters fray in all three seats
On NC, party chief Mehbooba Mufti says, ‘They should have consulted us and not demeaned our workers’
AFTER FAILING to reach an agreement with its INDIA bloc ally National Conference (NC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday fielded candidates from all three seats in the kashmir Valley on Sunday. The decision of the PDP, which had been pushing for at least one seat from kashmir, came almost a week after the NC fielded candidates from the constituencies. It also raises the question about who the Congress will back in the Valley.
While former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti will contest from Anantnag-rajouri, the party’s youth leader Waheedur-rehman Parra will be in the fray from Srinagar. The PDP has nominated former Rajya Sabha MP Fayaz Ahmad Mir, who recently returned to the party fold, in Baramulla.
“I would have announced a young candidate (from Anantnag) but Delhi has focused all its efforts on south Kashmir. I am a fighter and accept the challenge. I appeal to all Kashmiri, our Gujjar and Pahari brothers as well as Sikh and Hindu brothers to send that voice which would represent them without fear to Parliament,” Mufti said while announcing her candidature.
She also made it clear that the PDP would support the Congress, its INDIA bloc ally, in Jammu and reiterated that she was looking to ally with the NC but was forced to go solo after its leaders publicly questioned the “PDP’S existence”.
“We left the decision to farooq Abdullah. They should have at least consulted us and not demeaned our workers by saying they will see our behaviour in the Lok Sabha polls before deciding on the alliance for the Assembly elections,” she said.
Here are the PDP candidates:
Mehbooba Mufti
The former Jammu and Kashmir CM is the glue that binds the PDP together. The 64-year-old is the first and only woman 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 began her career with the Congress and was elected as an MLA from Bijbehara in south Kashmir for the first time in 1996 – the first polls in the Valley after the 1987 Assembly elections, which were marred by allegations of widespread rigging.
She then quit the Congress with her father and floated the PDP where she helped the party gaining acceptability, especially in south Kashmir.
When the PDP first came to power in 2002, Mehbooba was elected as Pahalgam MLA. In 2004, she won the Lok Sabha polls from Anantnag (as the constituency was then called) and in the Assembly elections four years later, she won from Wachi in Shopian.
In 2009, Mehbooba replaced her father at the helm of the PDP and five years later, she was elected to Parliament again from Anantnag. After Sayeed’s death in 2016, she took over as the first woman CM of the state.
Anantnag-rajouri is seen as the PDP’S best bet. The seat is seemingly headed for a triangular fight as Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party and Gujjar leader Mian Altaf of the NC are also in the fray. The BJP has yet to announce its candidate and is likely to back Azad.
Waheed Parra
Parra’s initiation into politics was through his grandfather who was a close aide of Sayeed. He formally joined the PDP in 2013 and was subsequently appointed its youth president.
His candidature is being seen as a result of the delimitation of parliamentary seats in 2022, following which six Assembly segments of south Kashmir, where Parra holds sway, became part of the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat.
Seen as having excellent organisationskills ,37- year-old par ra was publicly praised by former Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for his youth engagement initiatives in the valley. as the secretaryof the sports council, he was seen to be a key player in weaning youth away from violence.
Following the abrogation of Article 370 and days after he filed his nomination for the District Development council(ddc) polls,
Par raw as arrested by the national Investigation Agency (NIA) in a case of alleged terror funding. He won from Pulwama, his home turf, while in jail. but despite court orders, Parra was not allowed to take oath as a DDC member after his release on bail. He has been credited with spreading the party' s grassroots network, especially in south Kashmir.
Parra is likely to take on NC vice-president Omar Abdullah in Srinagar.
Fayaz Ahmad Mir
Fayaz (47) lost the 2014 Assembly elections from Kupwara by a wafer-thin margin
of 133 votes. He was appointed the Rajya Sabha MP in 2015 and his relations with the PDP turned sour following the abrogation of Article 370.
He was later expelled and joined the Peoples Conference, a party known to have a strong presence in Kupwara. In September 2023, following a tumultuous tenure in the party, he quit citing “family reasons”. Mir returned to the PDP in March.
While he is not expected to be among the frontrunners in the fight for Baramulla, his entry is likely to dent the prospects of Peoples Conference candidate Sajad Lone.