Trouble Within PDP, Muzaffar Baig Asks Mehbooba Mufti to Quit

The popular perception is that the PDP-BJP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir has failed.

Amidst growing unrest in the Kashmir valley and with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti finding herself increasingly out of depth, her party too seems to have got jittery feet.

A senior leader of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Muzaffar Baig, in an interview to CNN-News18 said Mufti should perhaps quit if she can’t contain the situation of growing violence in the state.

If this alliance (BJP-PDP) does not work for inner contradictions, because we are incompatible and what we have on paper is a paper of fraud and not a paper of good faith... if she (Mufti) comes to that conclusion and she does not get the support she must resign in honour.

Baig told TV channels

Giving in to the popular opinion that the PDP-BJP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir has failed, Baig conceded that the coalition hasn’t worked for PDP and hasn’t managed to do any good for its workers.

Try, but if the alliance does not work then say ‘salaam’ to people and step down.

Baig told ANI

This has however not always been Baig’s line of thought.

In an interview given to Times of India in January, Baig seemed confident that Mufti would make a better Chief Minister than her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. In the aftermath of her father’s death, Baig said Mufti would carry on his legacy.

As the protests and stone-pelting in the valley intensified after the 8 February killing of Burhan Wani, Baig asserted that Mufti would not crack under pressure and that the BJP should in fact put its weight behind Mufti and “must deliver” on their promises.

In an interview given to Economic Times soon after, Baig hinted that the PDP will pull out of the coalition in all likelihood, unless the BJP delivers on the promises it made when the alliance was formed.

After the all-party meeting in Srinagar, Baig criticised Mufti and said that she had applied all the “wrong policies” and botched up her governance in the state.

While Baig’s most recent criticism of Mufti may have been to pass on the blame to the BJP and absolve the PDP of some of the responsibility in the state, it may also have resulted from his apprehension about Mufti’s recent show of aggression in outrightly blaming the Hurriyat for the current crisis in the Valley.

Baig’s patience seems to have run its course. The J&K Chief Minister has her work cut out if voices within her own party are questioning her legitimacy.

(With inputs from Times of India, Economic Times, Firstpost, Kashmir Life.)