With certain areas of Poonch and Rajouri being clubbed in south Kashmir’s Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, Peoples Democratic Party is making efforts to boost its support base in the Muslim belts of Jammu division.
The party has initiated a mass-contact programme in the region under the leadership of Najum Saquib, coordinator of the party’s youth wing in south Kashmir and the Pir Panjal region.
PDP chief spokesperson Suhail Bukhari said, “We have been holding a series of meetings with the youth in Jammu region. It is a seven-day programme during which we will cover all seven assembly seats of the region.”
In the 2014 assembly elections, the PDP had bagged three seats in the region, while the National Conference, Congress and BJP won a seat each. The party had also won seats in Rajouri, Poonch and Darhal and the PDP leadership is hoping to regain ground in the region. However, a lot has changed since with several top leaders quitting the party over the last three years.
A PDP leader from south Kashmir, who did not wish to be named, said, “With several parts of Poonch and Rajouri being included in the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, we have a good chance of strengthening our base in the region. We are working to bring more workers to the party’s fold and top leadership will be visiting the region soon.”
{{/usCountry}}A PDP leader from south Kashmir, who did not wish to be named, said, “With several parts of Poonch and Rajouri being included in the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, we have a good chance of strengthening our base in the region. We are working to bring more workers to the party’s fold and top leadership will be visiting the region soon.”
{{/usCountry}}In the latest delimitation, the region got an additional seat out of six seats added to Jammu division. Though mainstream political parties had opposed the clubbing the areas of Poonch and Rajouri with Kashmir during the delimitation process, the two big regional parties – NC and PDP – are now trying to strengthen the party cadres in the region.
Though south Kashmir is believed to be the stronghold of the Mehbooba Mufti-led outfit, the National Conference had won the parliament seat last time, while it could only wrest a seat from Mendhar. NC president Farooq Abdullah had also addressed a series of rallies in the Poonch last week.