Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti tore into the National Conference and Congress alliance which the two parties stitched for the ongoing assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, blaming the two parties of "bringing tragedies to Kashmir whenever they joined hands".
Mehbooba, who was speaking at an election campaign rally in Srinagar, while referring to "these two parties" (NC and Congress), said that whenever they joined hands, Kashmir got engulfed in tragedies.
"When Mufti sahab strengthened Congress in Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Sahab and Rajiv Gandhi signed the Farooq-Rajiv accord and demolished Congress. And soon after hanged Maqbool Bhat. In 1987, the two parties contested assembly elections together and when they felt they were losing, they resorted to massive rigging which bred militant commanders like Yasin Malik and Syed Sallah u Din," she said.
"After 1987, we know what happened. Kashmir became a place for graveyards, widows and fathers had to shoulder coffins of their sons. It was the result of the NC and Congress alliance and their rigging of elections," she said.
Mehbooba's PDP was a member of INDI bloc and attended its two meetings in Mumbai and Bihar before the parliament elections. However, she didn't attend the later meetings of the bloc when NC and Congress shared five parliamentary seats of Jammu and Kashmir and didn't accommodate PDP in the seat sharing arrangement.
Mehbooba was today in Habbakadal assembly constituency of Srinagar's downtown to campaign for her party's candidate Arif Laigaroo. The young party activist has been nominated the PDP candidate who will be contesting against National Conference’s two time women legislator Shameema Firdous.
Mehbooba accused the National Conference of neglecting the Srinagar city during their governments.
"The National Conference was in government for forty years - from Sheikh Abdullah to Omar Abdullah - and I was chief minister for two years. NC should explain to the people of Srinagar what it did for the people of the city. I will also explain what I did for the city when I was chief minister and when my father was chief minister for three years and 10 months," she said.
Mehbooba claimed that PDP will be the number one party in South Kashmir where elections were conducted on September 18.
"We will have maximum seats from south Kashmir even though they (NC) said they will have more seats. We will be part of the government. You should wait for results," she said while the people at the gathering applauded.
Targeting NC founder Sheikh Abdullah, Mehbooba said that the Kashmir issue has its genesis in the swirling politics of Sheikh Abdullah.
"When he was out of power, he would demand plebiscite, accession with Pakistan and independence from India. But when he was in power again in 1975, he forgot everything and said India is our future," she said.
The PDP chief also criticised the National Conference by saying that the party doesn't respect its alliance partners.
"In Batamaloo, Tariq Karra sahab is their alliance candidate, but why did NC field Irfan Shah as an independent candidate. In Tral, NC fielded Dr Ghulam Nabi Bhat against Channi Singh who is their alliance candidate. NC doesn't respect the alliance partners," she said.
PDP has fielded eight candidates in the eight assembly constituencies of Srinagar city. The party had won five seats in 2014 elections from Srinagar city which was known as NC's political citadel as the latter swept most of the elections in the city.
Political observers said that the PDP this time seems on a weak wicket in the city after 40 of its leaders left the party. Among them were Altaf Bukhari, Ashraf Mir, Noor Mohammad Sheikh, Tariq Hammed Karra who were all elected in 2014 assembly elections.
They said that these leaders took along with them the party activists and workers which weakened the PDP in Srinagar.
Srinagar alongwith Budgam and Ganderbal districts are slated for elections in the second phase on September 25. The first phase of polls was held in the 24 seats of south Kashmir and Chenab valley districts on September 18.
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