NVI Correspondent
Srinagar, Aug 28 (NVI): Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti today said that she won’t contest the upcoming assembly elections in J&K as the powers of Chief Minister have been squeezed to an extent where he/she can’t even have powers to release youth from jails.
Addressing the party workers in Srinagar, Mehbooba said that she has served as the Chief Minister of erstwhile J&K State when there was a PDP-BJP coalition. “I was the one who rolled back FIRs of almost 12000 youth. But the person who would become CM after Assembly polls, won’t have even powers to revoke one single FIR.
The Assembly that would be constituted in J&K has been reduced to even less than a municipality,” she alleged.The PDP chief said that when she was the CM of erstwhile J&K State, she invited separatists for talks, paved way for ceasefire on borders and created an atmosphere for reconciliation.
On why PDP didn’t form any alliance, she said that the party would contest on its own. “We have been contesting polls on our own since 1999,” she said. About NC-Congress alliance, she said that it was the NC regime, when Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru were hanged. She also announced mandate for the journalist turned politician Syed Tajamul for Bandipora district.
It is pertinent to mention that Mehbooba has fielded her daughter Iltija Mufti from Bijbehera Assembly seat. The three phased assembly polls will commence in J&K from September 18. This will be first election after a decade and abrogation of article 370. This will also be a first election when J&K will fight Assembly as a UT. (News Vibes of India)
