Srinagar, May 02: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) President and former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said her party is not only fighting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but also the “people and machinery they are using as proxy candidates”. However, there is a contest between the National Conference and PDP.
Talking to reporters here, Mufti said, “The decisions taken against us by the BJP government to humiliate the state are not acceptable to us. They are threatening people in upper regions of Rajouri and Poonch and asking people to vote for proxy candidates.”
“The presence of PDP as a protective shield is necessary to prevent the loss of the original identity of Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.
Mehbooba said the BJP is feeling threatened by the Congress manifesto and that is why the party is now using religion as a tool to appease the people.
The PDP chief further said that Jammu and Kashmir acceded to Gandhi’s India, and the Muslim-majority state was living with Hindus. “Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus used to live here, but since 2019 we feel that we have been cheated, she said.
“We have no personal interest in supporting the INDIA alliance,” she said, adding, “Rahul Gandhi is not lying. He is fighting to save Gandhi’s India.”
Mufti said the PDP is the only party in the political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir which has the ability to raise the voice of the people inside and outside the Parliament.
She asserted that the ongoing elections in Jammu and Kashmir are not just about getting office or seats, but about sending people to parliament who can effectively represent the people of the region.
“This election is not just about fixing roads and electricity. There are bigger problems, like unemployment, that we need to talk about like the changes made by the government in 2019 of splitting Jammu and Kashmir into two parts,” the former CM added.
