Jolt to PDP as Jammu leader Choudhary quits party posts

The beleaguered Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is likely to suffer another big jolt after its state general secretary Surinder Choudhary resigned from the posts of state general secretary and political affairs committee on Wednesday evening

The beleaguered Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is likely to suffer another big jolt after its state general secretary Surinder Choudhary resigned from the posts of state general secretary and political affairs committee on Wednesday evening.

the PDP had suffered a major jolt last year after six of its senior leaders quit the party. (HT File Photo)

Sources privy to the development said that Choudhary, a former MLC and only prominent Hindu face of the PDP in entire Jammu region, resigned from the post of state general secretary and political affairs committee because he was neither taken into confidence nor given a suitable place in state body and parliamentary affairs committee constituted by Mehbooba Mufti.

“Despite being a popular Hindu leader from Rajouri district and having mass base in Jammu, he was not taken into confidence. He was handed a raw deal in the state body and parliamentary affairs committee. Hence, he resigned from the post of state general secretary and political affairs committee. He is going to resign from the party itself in a day or two after talking to his workers and supporters,” said people close to Choudhary.

They also produced a letter written by Choudhary to Mehbooba Mufti, part of which read, “First of all I thank you for appointing me as State General Secretary and member of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP)-the highest decision making panel of the party. Being a simple and grass-root level worker of the PDP, I will not be able to shoulder such important responsibilities of the party, so I am resigning from both the posts. I will serve the party as a simple worker, which I have already been doing for years together”.

“My best wishes are always there for your future journey as president of the PDP and newly appointed office-bearers,” it read further.

However, people close to him said that Choudhary has decided to quit the party.

The development comes on a day when PDP’s founding member and former J&K deputy chief minister Muzaffar Baig joined Sajad Lone’s Peoples’ Conference in Srinagar.

It may be recalled here that the PDP had suffered a major jolt last year after six of its senior leaders had quit the party.

Barely two days ahead of DDC elections in Jammu and Kashmir on November 26, the PDP had suffered another jolt as three senior leaders — Dhaman Bhasin, Fallail Singh and Pritam Kotwal — resigned.

On October 26, former PDP MP TS Bajwa along with former MLC Ved Mahajan and former state secretary Choudhary Hussain Ali Wafa had quit the party over Mehbooba Mufti’s highly provocative remarks against the Tricolour.

During DDC elections, the PDP had won only one seat from Nowshera in Rajouri district.