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People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti has said the next government in Jammu and Kashmir will cannot be formed without the support of her party.
Mufti also responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “three families” jibe, saying that when the National Conference talked about joining Pakistan, it was Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, her late father, who held and raised the Indian flag high in Kashmir.
“The government will be secular, and without the PDP, no government will be formed in Jammu and Kashmir. In the (first phase) elections held in South Kashmir, the PDP is emerging as the number one party,” Mufti said at a poll rally in Jammu on Tuesday night hours before second phase of elections commenced in the Union Territory.
Mufti, who was campaigning for party candidate Varinder Singh from Bahu seat in Jammu, said these elections are crucial for the future of J&K and urged people to vote cautiously.
‘They have nothing to offer to the people’
Criticising Modi for his statement labelling three families – the Gandhi, Abdullah, and Mufti families — as “anti-national” and responsible for the emergence of terrorism, the former chief minister said, “Big leaders from BJP come here…the Prime Minister comes, the Home Minister comes, but they only oppose us. They have nothing to offer to the people. Whose opposition are they doing? Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s party, the same man who, since the 1960s, has raised India’s flag high in Kashmir.”
Mufti said, “When National Conference ran a campaign for independence and talked about going to Pakistan, it was Mufti Sahab who held and raised the Indian flag in Kashmir. And now, they (BJP leaders) call his party anti-national.”
The fate of 239 candidates will be sealed today as voting gets underway in 26 seats in the second phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election today, September 25.
The 26 assembly constituencies voting today are spread over six districts – three in the Kashmir Valley and as many in the Jammu division.
Jammu and Kashmir is holding its first assembly elections in a decade to elect a government after over six years of Central rule. This is also first assembly election being held after abrogation of Article 370 in the erstwhile state in August 2019.
The final phase of polling will be held on October 1. The votes will be counted on October 8.
The 2014 government
In the 2014 Assembly polls, the People’s Democratic Party had won 10 of the 26 seats, while the National Conference had won eight seats. The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) had won three seats and the Congress two. The PDP and BJP formed the government with Late Mufti Sayeed as Chief Minister. The government, however, didn’t last long as BJP withdrew support in 2018.
“Mufti Sahab ran the government in Jammu and Kashmir for over three years, and that era is called a golden period. We gave an MP to Jammu, we gave an MLC to Jammu, we gave an MLA to Jammu. Which party has done that?” she said.
The PDP chief said that had there been a governor from Jammu, even Kashmiris would have respected him for being from this region, and there would have been no opposition.
The government will be secular, and without the PDP, no government will be formed in Jammu and Kashmir.
