PDP a Loser in BJP Alliance, Mehbooba Should Go Back to People, Says Baig

Srinagar: Hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti met on Monday over the worsening law and order situation in the Valley, senior People’s Democratic Party leader and former deputy CM Muzaffar Hussain Baig said Mehbooba should “go back to the people,” instead of “sticking to the alliance” with BJP.

There is disenchantment, inexperience and lack of commitment in the present coalition government. Mehbooba has to take a hard view of it,” said Baig.

“If she doesn’t find the coalition functional, she should not stick to it. She should go back to the people and try earning their trust again.” he added.

Baig’s statement comes at a time when the PDP-BJP coalition has been blamed for failing to handle the situation in the Valley, which has gone from bad to worse.

On Sunday, Kulgam MLA and CPI (M) leader M Y Tarigami appealed to Mufti to quit the coalition “before it’s too late”. “The PDP used to claim that its Agenda of Alliance with the BJP is a sacred document. Is there anything sacred left in the Agenda of Alliance now? In 2015 we had said it is an opportunistic alliance but now we also say it is an illegitimate alliance,” said Tarigami.

He alleged that the BJP-led government at the Centre has adopted a strategy of “using force to suppress the Kashmiri people to serve their cynical political interests of advancing the Hindutva agenda and making Kashmir an issue for rousing feelings of Hindu nationalism in the rest of the country”.

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On Friday, National Conference President and Srinagar MP Farooq Abdullah said the alliance was a “painful joke”. Speaking against an alleged statement by Chander Prakash Ganga, a BJP minister in Mufti-led government, justifying the use of violence against Kashmiri protesters, Abdullah said, “This is yet another fixed-match between the PDP and the BJP. Had PDP really been outraged at what the Minister has said, they would have broken their alliance with the BJP as a mark of protest. However, their decision to remain with the BJP irrespective of BJP’s anti-Kashmir politics has exposed the PDP.”