Rift in PAGD, top leadership questioned

Two senior leaders of the People's Conference have written to party chief Sajad Lone and raised their concerns over the PAGD alliance. Senior leader Abdul Gani Vakil and Imran Ansari have raised questions over the amalgam's inaction against candidates who contested the DDC elections as Independents in various constituencies.

Srinagar:After successfully contesting 110 seats in the recently held District Development Council (DDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir, cracks have begun to appear in the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) as senior leaders have questioned the top leadership.

Two senior leaders of the People's Conference have written to party chief Sajad Lone and raised their concerns over the PAGD alliance. Senior leader Abdul Gani Vakil and Imran Ansari have raised questions over the amalgam's inaction against candidates who contested the DDC elections as Independents in various constituencies.

The PAGD was formed by mainstream parties including the National Conference and the PDP to press for the restoration of the pre-August 5, 2019, position to Jammu and Kashmir. The alliance is headed by National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and PDP's chief Mehbooba Mufti is its vice-chairperson.

Even though the political parties came together and fought the DDC elections together, several leaders including Vakil, Ansari, PDP's Fayaz Ahmed Mir and NC's Basharat Bukhari have come out publicly to show disdain against the alliance.

The disagreements grew stronger amid Sajad Lone's alleged meeting with home minister Amit Shah and Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari.

Talking with ETV Bharat, PC's Abdul Gani Vakil said that he had raised concerns with Sajad Lone during the initial stage of the alliance formation. "I had raised questions about NC and PDP's seriousness regarding the alliance. I had asked what their roadmap was for the restoration of Article 370," he said.

He further said he was hopeful that Sajad Lone would soon call a meeting of the party's executive body to discuss the issues.

Meanwhile, NC Basharat Bukhari also questioned the PAGD alliance and said there was no roadmap for Article 370's restoration, so far. "Without drawing a road map, the PAGD would end up as another alliance like the Hurriyat," he said.

PDP's Fayaz Ahmed Mir said that the party and the alliance failed to act against the rebel members who contested the DDC elections as Independents despite party diktat.

However, PAGD sources said that these questions are being raised at this time because of the DDC chairman posts.

Talking with ETV Bharat, PAGD coordinator and NC leader Hasnain Masoodi said that the alliance is very much intact and it is the individual opinion of some leaders who are raising questions.

Reacting to the news reports, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti took to Twitter and called the speculation "baseless theories" that are being deliberately floated to discredit PAGD among the masses.

She tweeted, "Amidst all the unnecessary speculation about PAGD, I'd like to make a few things absolutely clear. The purpose of this grand alliance is not for petty electoral gains. It exists for a much larger cause & purpose i.e to restore J&Ks special status.

"A lot of baseless theories are being deliberately floated to discredit PAGD amongst masses since they overwhelmingly voted for us in the DDC elections. Regardless of who fought how many seats, our purpose to deny BJP & its proxies democratic space has been achieved," she said.

She further wrote, "Delhi is deeply rattled by PAGD so I expect this false campaign to intensify in the coming days. Many PDP leaders are already arrested & I expect the situation to worsen. But this will not break our resolve to stand united & fight for what's rightfully ours."

The PAGD had emerged as the biggest winner in the first-ever DDC polls in Jammu and Kashmir by winning 110 seats out of 280 while the BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 75 seats.

Counting was stopped in two seats - one in Bandipora's Hajin and another in Kupwara's Drugmulla - due to the nationality issues of the candidates.