PDP President and former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti will contest the general elections from Kashmir’s Anantnag-Rajouri constituency….reports Asian Lite News
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday announced candidates for three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir.
PDP leader Sartaj Madni announced that Mehbooba Mufti will contest the general elections from Kashmir’s Anantnag-Rajouri constituency.
Mufti will be in a political battle from the Anantnag-Rajouri seat against Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Azad will be fighting the Lok Sabha polls for the first time after he lost the 2014 General Elections from Udhampur seat.
Waheed Parra will contest from Srinagar seat while former Rajya Sabha member Mir Fayaz from the Baramulla seat.
Peoples Democractic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday asked that if the Bharatiya Janata Party is saying everything is fine, then why section 144 been imposed in Ladakh.
“Whatever I have been doing on the land of Jammu and Kashmir for the last five years, I have always become the voice of the people here. Our manifesto, our request is to strengthen my voice so that we can raise our issues in Parliament. BJP says everything is fine, if everything is fine then why section 144 has been imposed in Ladakh. Why people of Jammu are upset,” she said.
The National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party are partners in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance formed to challenge the BJP in the general elections.
The Lok Sabha polls in the Union Territory will be held in the first five phases on April 19 (Udhampur), April 26 (Jammu), May 7 (Anantnag-Rajouri), May 13 (Srinagar) and May 20 (Baramulla).
The counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.
‘Could not sit silent’
PDP President and former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that her party’s decision to contest the Lok Sabha elections was made inevitable by the statements of National Conference Vice President, Omar Abdullah.
Addressing the media here after the party’s parliamentary board announced her candidature for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, she said: “If the NC wanted to fight all the 3 seats in the Valley, we would not have opposed that decision. What hurt our workers was that when NC Vice President, Omar Abdullah went public to announce his party’s decision to fight all 3 Valley Lok Sabha seats, they did not even bother to inform us.”
“Instead of that, Omar Sahib said that the PDP is a spent force. He even said his party would watch our conduct before deciding on any future electoral alignment with us. Is this the language you use against a party that has been your partner in the PAGD? We never use such language against Omar Sahib,” she added.
She will face Mian Altaf Ahmad of the NC and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) in the constituency.
Mehbooba Mufti said that for her, standing in the elections is not an attractive proposition, but the way her workers have been hurt, she had no other option.
She alleged that her senior party leaders had been taken away one by one and all that she was left with were the poor ground-level workers who were the main strength of her party.
“How could I take insult to them lying down and doing nothing?” she asked.
Mehbooba Mufti added that an election is a battle of ideas and she had nothing personal against those fighting elections against her party candidates.
She said that her PDP has decided to support the Congress in the Jammu division because of, what she termed, the “extremely tough times the nation is facing this time”.
The PDP also nominated its youth leader, Waheed Para, from the Srinagar seat and former Rajya Sabha member, Fayaz Mir, for the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat.
The BJP has not yet announced its candidates for any of the 3 Lok Sabha seats in the Valley.
PoJK refugees urge political parties to clear stand on their demands
SOS International, an organization for Pakistan-occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) Displaced Persons, on Sunday, asked the political parties and candidates contesting from the newly carved Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary seat in Jammu and Kashmir to clear their stand on nine major demands of refugees.
PoJK displaced persons have demanded the implementation of the PoJK Refugees package; reservation of eight seats in the J&K Assembly for the displaced people; providing equal facilities to all the refugees displaced from PoJK on the lines of the displaced people of Kashmir Valley; and inclusion of 5,300 PoJK displaced families settled outside the J&K within the ambit of the Refugees package, SOS International said in a statement.
Their demands also include granting Scheduled Tribe status to the entire PoJK refugee community belonging to Pahari clan, tribe and ethnicity; allowing PoJK displaced people to visit their religious places located in PoJK; to get back the cash deposited by PoJK refugees in Jammu and Kashmir Bank Mirpur before displacement; formation of Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Poonch and Gilgit scouts to guard the Line of Control to prevent infiltration; and restoration of land rights under sections 578 and 254C.
Addressing a gathering of PoJK displaced persons in Rajouri, SOS International Chairman Rajiv Chuni said it is high time for all political parties and candidates to publicly announce their full support to all major demands of refugees if they are serious about getting nearly 1.5 lakh votes of PoJK displaced persons in Rajouri and Poonch districts, the statement added.
ALSO READ: ‘Rahul should fight from BJP stronghold, not Kerala’