The Peoples Democratic Party on Monday said that all of its office bearers have resigned. Mohammad Sartaj Madni, maternal uncle of the party’s president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, was the first to resign, leaving the post of vice president on Monday.
The party’s chief spokesperson, Rafi Mir, said the mass resignation was aimed at revamping the party and not related to brewing dissent in the party. “As the capable party leaders are no more ministers now, so the decision of tendering resignation was only taken to revamp the party,” Mir said, according to Rising Kashmir. Mir said four general secretaries and a treasurer have submitted their resignations to Mufti.
Mufti may restructure the party shortly after the party’s Foundation Day on July 28, reported The Tribune.
Madni and some other leaders of the party have been criticised by the dissident leaders who have alleged that the “coterie of [Mufti’s] close relations have brought the PDP to the present crisis and also cost it power in the state”, IANS reported.
A group of PDP legislators led by Imran Ansari has publicly denounced Mufti for promoting nepotism, citing Madni’s elevation as the party’s vice president despite losing the 2014 assembly polls as the prime example.
Madni’s resignation came two weeks after five of the party’s dissenting leaders dismissed Mufti’s claim that they had rebelled at the Centre’s behest. His resignation is seen as the first major attempt by the party to quell the dissent.
Mufti has warned the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre against trying to tear her party apart. The BJP walked out of a three-year alliance with the PDP on June 19, leading to the collapse of the state government.
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