Ahead of the first phase of the poll on September 18, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is facing a major challenge as party’s senior leaders are leaving one after the other over the allocation of seats.
On Monday, PDP’s senior leader and spokesperson Tahir Sayeed, announced his resignation. Tahir, who hails from Kupwara, had joined the party in 2014. “It is with a very heavy heart that I write this unpleasant letter of resignation,” Sayeed said, while announcing that he is parting away from the basic membership of the party.
Sayeed, sources said, was ‘unhappy’ after being denied a mandate from his hometown in Kupwara district. He joins other prominent PDP faces who have resigned recently.
PDP chief spokesperson Suhail Bukhari joined the Congress party last week. A former journalist, Bukhari had joined the party in 2016 and left after former PDP minister Basharat Bukhari returned to the PDP. In between, Basharat Bukhari had also joined the National and Peoples Conference.
Party spokesperson Harbaksh Singh was named as a candidate by Engineer Rashid’s party from the Tral constituency. After leaving the party, Singh said he wasn’t consulted when the party announced the mandate.
The PDP last faced a major blow in 2020, when its top leadership joined the Apni party after the abrogation of Article 370. Since 2020, the PDP continue to face turbulent times. In the Lok Sabha polls, the party contested on three seats in Valley but didn’t win.
A former PDP leader, who recently left the party, told The Tribune that the party failed to recognize the efforts of leaders who stood by the party in the most challenging times.
The former PDP leader said when nominations were announced, the deserving ones were left and preference was given to those who were not deserving of the mandate.
Former MLA from South Kashmir, Aijaz Mir, recently announced that he will contest as an Independent from the Zainpora seat. His decision came after the party announced another candidate from the constituency.
PDP spokesperson Mohit Bhan said it was disheartening to see people who worked hard for the party, are leaving. But many are also joining the party. Stating that politics is a long inning, Bhan, asserted that everyone could not be given the mandate because of “situations”. Another PDP leader also acknowledged that the leaders who left the party had caused it a major blow.
