Two senior Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders, who were ministers in the Mehbooba Mufti government, are likely to join its arch-rival National Conference tomorrow.
Former Minister and two-time legislator from north Kashmir’s Sangrama constituency Bashaarat Bukhari will formally resign from the PDP to join the Farooq Abdullah-led party.
Considered close to PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, he will be the fifth legislator to resign from the party. Sources close to Bukhari told Hindustan Times that on Wednesday morning, he will be joining National Conference in presence of its vice president Omar Abdullah.
Earlier, Bukhari also held series of meetings with his prominent supporters in Sangrama who endorsed his plan to quit the PDP and join the National Conference.
Another former minister, Peer Mohammad Hussain from south Kashmir, is also planning to join the National Conference on Wednesday.
Last week, another senior leader Raja Ajaj Ali Khan who had contested elections from Uri, also resigned from the PDP. Former ministers Haseeb Drabu and Imran Reza Ansari and former legislators Abid Ansari and Abas Wani resigned from the party recently.
While Imran and Abid Ansari joined the Peoples Conference, Khan and Wani are also likely to join the Sajjad Lone-led party.
After the dissolution of assembly, PDP has suffered many defections. Recently PDP president Mehbooba Mufti had called meeting of senior leaders and former legislators but many leaders had skipped the meeting,where the issue of senior leaders leaving the party was discussed.
Mehbooba Mufti, however, had recently said that during the election time, leaders come and go and all this will have no impact on the PDP.
First Published: Dec 18, 2018 21:12 IST
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