EJAC ex-chief Rather joins PDP, Mehbooba welcomes him into party fold

Former Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) president Mohammad Rafiq Rather joined PDP. Party president Mehbooba Mufti said he will work with those party workers who were never after big posts.

In what could give a boost to the prospects of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in north Kashmir’s high-profile constituency, Baramulla, former Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) president Mohammad Rafiq Rather today joined the party.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti while welcoming EJAC former president Mohammad Rafiq Rather into the party fold said that he will work with those party workers who were never after big posts. (PTI File Photo)

Rather resigned as a government lecturer a few months ago and as an office-bearer of the EJAC to take the plunge into politics.

His joining is believed to give a boost to the PDP in Baramulla where the PDP had suffered setbacks after three politicians from a single family, former MP Muzaffar Baig, his wife Safeena and nephew former legislator from Baramulla, Javeed Baig, resigned from the PDP. While Muzaffar Baig is yet to join any political party, his wife Safeena joined the Peoples Conference after winning DDC polls from Sangrama and later with the help of the Apni Party, she became chairperson of the DDC, Baramulla. With Rather’s entry, the political analysts say the party has got a shot in the arm, especially in rural pockets of Baramulla where Rather enjoys good clout.

Rather, who was also president of the Teachers Forum for many years, said that he joined the PDP as this is the only party that is fighting for the rights of the people of Kashmir.

“After resigning, I joined the party with an aim to raise the voice of people of my area,” said Rather.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti while welcoming him into the party fold said that he will work with those party workers who were never after big posts.

Without naming Baigs, Mehbooba said that the party raised their profile and gave them everything only to get ditched from them...

“We lifted them from floor up in the sky,” a reference to getting Baigs elected as legislators from the Baramulla constituency on the PDP ticket. Soon after the BJP withdrew its support from the PDP in 2018, Baigs left the party.

The PDP has been winning Baramulla since 2002, even in DDC polls the party won both the DDC seats so the party will be eyeing this seat in the upcoming polls which could be held next year.

“The entry of Rather will easily compensate for the absence of Baigs. Now the party is again strong in this region,” said a senior PDP leader from north Kashmir.