- Uncle Madani out, loyalist Veeri in as Vice President
- Brother Tasadduq, relative Mansoor kept at bay; Naeem Akhtar cut to size
Weeks after stripping his maternal uncle Sartaj Madni of the post of vice president, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti Sunday appointed senior leader and party loyalist, Abdul Rehman Veeri to the post.
The decision comes after PDP faced a rebellion soon after losing power in June.
Its five MLAs and two MLCs openly accused Mehbooba of turning the party into a “family fiefdom” where her relatives were calling all the shots.
Meanwhile, along with Veeri as the Vice President, senior PDP leaders Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura, Abdul Haq Khan, Mehboob Iqbal, S Surinder Choudhary, and F Bhagat have been nominated as general secretaries of the party.
Earlier in July, all office bearers of the party had resigned from their posts including former general secretary Peer Mansoor Hussain, who was also accused by the rebels as being a beneficiary of nepotism within the party.
In the new party structure, the leaders accused by rebels of overtaking the party have not been accorded any party position.
Along with Madni and Mansoor, Mehbooba’s brother and former minister Tassaduq Hussain Mufti is conspicuous with his absence from the new team.
Former minister and MLC Naeem Akhtar has also been shown ignored after rebel MLAs blamed him for being responsible for all the problems faced by the party.
The rebel MLAs including Imran Reza Ansari, Abid Ansari, Abdul Majeed Padder, Javaid Baig and Muhammad Abbas Wani have also been kept out of the party positions although despite rebelling openly against the party high command, Mehbooba has not taken any action against them.
Also the two rebels MLCs, Muhammad Shafi Bhat and Yasir Reshi have also not been given any party position.
Reshi, who was district president of PDP from Bandipora, was removed from his post following his rebellion.
The party has appointed Zahoor Ahmad Mir, Asiea Naqash, Muhammad Yousuf Bhat, Raja Aijaz Ali, Bashir Ahmad Rounyal, Maroof Khan, Noor Muhammad Bhat, Amrik Singh Reen, Abdul Majeed, Samiullah, Shah Muhammad Tantray, Deepak Handa and Abdul Rashid Malik as state secretaries.
Former minister and MLA Altaf Bukhari has been appointed as the party treasurer while Rafi Ahmad Mir would continue as chief spokesman.
PDP has also reconstituted the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the party with Muzaffar Hussain Baig, Abdul Rehman Veeri, Muhammad Dilawar Mir, Mehboob Baig, Syed Basharat Bukhari, Nizamuddin Bhat, Yashpal Sharma, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali, Syed Asgar Ali, Falail Singh, Muhammad Ashraf Mir, Anayat Ali, Rafiq Hussain Khan and Qazi Afzal as members.
Mehbooba would head the PAC while the office bearers of the party would be special invitees of the PAC when required.
