PDP reviews poor show in Lok Sabha polls in north Kashmir
PDP president Mhebooba Mufti asked the local leadership about the poor performance in Baramulla, which the party had won in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls
{Lok Sabha polls debacle}
After facing a humiliating defeat from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday chaired a high-level meeting with senior leaders of north Kashmir to discuss the party’s declining graph.
The meeting was attended by leaders from the Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora districts. Mufti asked the local leadership about the poor performance in Baramulla, which the party had won in 2014.
PDP contested from three seats — Baramulla, Srinagar and Anantnag-Rajouri — but lost all three. Candidates from Anantnag and Srinagar emerged as runners-up, but the party’s Baramulla candidate Fayaz Mir failed to muster even 50,000 votes to lose his deposit. The seat was won by Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid, who trounced National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah and Peoples Conference president Sajjad Lone.
“The meeting was to review the party’s position in North Kashmir,” party spokesperson Rafeeq Rather said, refusing to share more details.
Leaders who attended the meeting at Mufti’s residence said she made it clear that the party was not going to shift from its narrative, adding that doors were shut for leaders who had left the party after abrogation of Article 370.
“While some leaders advocated that the party should take all former leaders back. The party president disagreed,” a senior leader who attended the meeting said.
After the abrogation of Article 370, there was an exodus of senior PDP leaders to other parties. Recently, former minister Basharat Bukhari returned to the party while others, especially leaders from north Kashmir, are in talks with the party leadership.
“Many leaders even asked the party leadership to name the candidates for the assembly polls so that they will start preparations,” another leader privy to details of the meeting said..
In the last assembly elections held in 2014, PDP had emerged as the single largest party and went on to form the government with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The party had also bagged a good number of seats in north Kashmir, but most winning candidates jumped ship to the Altaf Bukhari-led Apni Party and other parties.