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Mehbooba Mufti re-elected PDP president for the fourth time
Mehbooba Mufti’s name was proposed by former minister Abdul Rehman Veri and seconded by party general secretary and former minister Ghulam Nabi Hanjura. Mehbooba Mufti virtually launched her party’s campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and exhorted the party cadre to start work right away to strengthen the organisation.
Peoples Democratic Party on Thursday re-elected Mehbooba Mufti as the party president for the fourth time in a row.
Mehbooba Mufti’s name was proposed by former minister Abdul Rehman Veri and seconded by party general secretary and former minister Ghulam Nabi Hanjura. Mehbooba Mufti virtually launched her party’s campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and exhorted the party cadre to start work right away to strengthen the organisation.
“Elections are not everything but these elections are important to get our strength back. Parliament elections are coming and you should get down to work right away,” she said in her address to party workers.
She was elected unanimously. The PDP was formed by her father and former J&K chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in 1999. PDP went on to form the government along with the Congress in 2003 and later in 2015, with the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, many of the founding members have left the PDP, some to join new political parties like Apni Party and People’s Conference.
In the past couple of years, Mehbooba Mufti’s task has got tougher as she is trying to reorganise her party which saw exodus of many senior leaders post August 5, 2019.
While PDP has roped in many young leaders and tried to build up its cadre in districts and villages. The silver lining for the party is that many former leaders including former legislators and ministers are trying to re-join the party and are in touch with party leadership which if accepted, the party can again emerge as stronger force in north and central Kashmir. South Kashmir is already seen as the party bastion.
Mehbooba Mufti is also grooming her daughter Iltija Mufti as a “new leader” after she was appointed as an advisor to the party president. Iltija has been giving policy statements on behalf of the party.
During Mehbooba Mufti’s detention, Iltija had also managed her social media account on microblogging site ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter). On Wednesday, in an interview with PTI, Iltija said the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) “is immensely popular among the people” and is “the only hope that they have right now” and she also claimed that her party is under tremendous pressure from the Centre to quit the PAGD.
PDP spokesman Mohit Bhan termed Mufti as a fearless leader.
(With inputs from PTI)
