Bigwigs from PDP, Cong, NC to join
Advisory Council in J&K ruled out
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 6: Prominent leaders of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), National Conference, Congress and some Independents are set to be part of Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) which is being launched by former Finance Minister and once prominent PDP leader Syed Altaf Bukhari on March 8.
JKAP insiders told the Excelsior that the party will be launched in Srinagar on Sunday and venue of the launch will be finalized tomorrow depending on weather conditions while few days later a separate function will be held in Jammu.
As a prelude to launch of new party, former Minister and district Congress president for Samba, Manjit Singh and district Jammu Urban president Vikram Malhotra, who was the Congress candidate from Jammu East in 2014 Assembly elections, resigned from their posts as well as primary membership of the party and have decided to join the JKAP.
Manjit and Malhotra confirmed to the Excelsior that they have resigned from the Congress and will be joining the new party.
“We have taken the decision in the interest of Jammu and Kashmir as well as the nation,” Manjit Singh, who had won Vijaypur Assembly seat in Samba district in 2002 and became the Minister in the PDP-Congress coalition Government, said.
Two more prominent Congress leaders, one of them former Minister and another former MLA, hailing from Reasi district, were in touch with the leadership of JKAP and could join the party shortly, the JKAP insiders said, adding another Congress leader and former Minister Usmaan Majeed will join the party tomorrow. Majeed is two-time MLA from Kashmir and had also served as Minister during the Congress-PDP coalition Government.
Vijay Bakaya, former Chief Secretary and ex-MLC from National Conference will also join the new party.
“I will feel comfortable to work with them,” Bakaya told the Excelsior.
Ghulam Hassan Mir (former Independent MLA), Javed Hussain Beg, Dilawar Mir, Noor Mohammed, Zaffar Manhas, Abdul Majid Paddar, Abdul Rahim Rather (PDP) and Gagan Bhagat, former MLA from RS Pura who has been expelled from the BJP are also set to join the JKAP.
Insiders said the party will be first launched in Srinagar on March 8 followed by another function in Jammu.
This will be the first political activity in Jammu and Kashmir after August 5 last year, the day the Centre withdrew the special status of the erstwhile State and bifurcated it into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
“Yes, I am in politics accidentally but my idea of politics is different — I believe that it is a place where you can serve people to the best of your abilities,” said Bukhari, who was part of the PDP till he distanced himself from Mehbooba Mufti, whose Government was reduced to minority after the BJP withdrew support in June 2018.
There were differences between Mufti and Bukhari over the functioning of the PDP.
Bukhari (60), a Graduate in Agriculture Science, will be joined by politicians from various other parties.
The proposed party aims to take on regional outfits like the National Conference and the PDP, whose leaders, including Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba Mufti, have been booked under the stringent Public Safety Act. These leaders were initially kept in preventive detention and later, booked under the PSA.
Bukhari called for release of all political leaders and said they should apprise the people of the changed realities. “I waited patiently for several weeks for others to step in but then decided to enter myself,” he said.
“While the parties are focused on the release of their leaders, many of their workers are unable to get even two square meals a day. My effort will be to contribute in making their life better,” Bukhari said recently.
The former PDP leader, however, had a word of praise for ex-Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. “I think he is a man of principles and who will never make people suffer for achieving his own political goals unlike others,” Bukhari had said, adding that he would extend all support in case his party came to power.
Meanwhile, according to sources, there has been no move with the Government to form any kind of `Political Advisory Council’ in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Speculations were rife that an ‘Advisory Council’ could be formed in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Government has, however, denied any such move.
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