Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti Friday said if New Delhi resorts to horse trading of lawmakers in Jammu Kashmir then new Salaudhins and Yasin Maliks will be born again.
“There can’t be any horse trading without New Delhi’s intervention. But this will have disastrous results,” Mehbooba said while talking to reporters after laying wreaths on the occasion of Martyrs Day at Martyrs graveyard in downtown Srinagar.
Meanwhile, Shunning the kid-glove approach, Mehbooba Mufti has taken action against one of the Peoples Democratic Party rebels, removing him from the post of the party district president.
A PDP spokesman on Thursday said Yasir Reshi, a member of the Upper House of state legislature, had been removed as district president of Bandipora.
“The district president, Baramulla, Irshad Rasool Kar will look after the party affairs of Bandipora district as well for the time being,” the spokesman said.
The removal of Reshi as the district president is the first indication that Mehbooba after consultation with party leaders had decided to get tough with dissidents. After she arrived in Srinagar on July 7 after about a week-long stay in New Delhi, Mehbooba has held one-to-one consultations with PDP MLAs, MLCs, MPs and other party leaders. Out of the six dissidents, only two MLAs have met Mehbooba.
Party sources said Reshi was working against the party interests and therefore was removed. “There was no reason to continue with him,” a party source said.
He said “more such action” would follow in the coming days against the party men who have spoken out publicly against the party leadership.
“While the party will take a strong note of the people who are working against the party, the programme to reach out to dissidents will continue simultaneously,” the source added.
Last week, MLC Yasir Reshi had hit out at the party leadership and asked for politics beyond the “traditional two family system (Muftis & Abdullahs)” in Kashmir.
When contacted, Reshi said: “If I have been removed on the basis of merit and anyone else can help the party more, I have no objection.” He, however, said that it appeared that he had been removed for speaking “against the family raj”.
