Two-time former legislator and former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) general secretary had jumped ship to the People’s Conference in 2021; sources said he could go back to the PDP
Three years after joining the Peoples Conference (PC), former legislator Nizam-ud-din Bhat on Wednesday disassociated from the party.
The two-time former legislator and former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) general secretary had jumped ship to the PC in 2021. Sources said that Bhat could go back to the PDP as he enjoys good rapport with the PDP leadership.
The development comes close at the heels of PC’s poor showing in the recent Lok Sabha polls, with the party failing to win any seats. PC chairperson Sajjad Lone, who was being supported by different parties, himself finished third in the contest from Baramulla Lok Sabha seat.
Bhat did not respond to messages about his dissociation from the PC, but he had told a local news agency he was feeling “suffocated” within the party and had not been very active during his time with it.
Reacting to the development, PC spokesperson Adnan Ashraf said Bhat was never an active member of the party.
Bhat was earlier associated with the PC during his youth when the party was run by its founder Abdul Gani Lone. He was considered a close confidant of Lone, but eventually moved to the PDP soon after it was founded in late 1990s.
After he returned to the PC in 2021, Sajad Lone, Abdul Gani Lone’s son, had said, “We at the People’s Conference believe that exiting changelessness is a big challenge and an even bigger challenge is navigating a dignified way out of the web of disempowerment. The people of J&K have been trapped post-August 5, 2019. And the current administration, which is a selected administration and not an elected one, is indulging in economic persecution of the people of J&K as a sequel to political persecution. We at the People’s Conference reiterate that economic empowerment is essential for political empowerment.”
