In a major setback, three senior leaders of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) including two founding members today resigned from the party, saying they were hurt by recent remarks of Mehbooba Mufti over the tricolour.
In a resignation letter addressed to the PDP President Mehbooba Mufti, former MP TS Bajwa, Ex-MLC Ved Mahajan and former PDP state secretary Choudhary Hussain Ali Waffa resigned from their posts as well as from the party. Ved Mahajan and Bajwa were the founding members, whereas Waffa joined the party in 2008.
“We, your colleagues in Jammu region, most of whom remained associated with the party through every thick and thin since its formation are feeling quit uncomfortable over some of your actions and undesirable utterances especially which hurt the patriotic sentiments,” reads the resignation letter of the three PDP leaders who have resigned from the party in view of uproar in Jammu since last three days over the statement of Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar.
The former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti had said that “they will not hold tricolour till erstwhile state flag is not restored.”
“Former Chief Minister Late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had twin broader objectives behind the formation of PDP. First, to create a viable political alternative in J&K to represent the regional aspirations of the people especially in the wake of vacuum in the shape of any mainstream alternative political voice in Kashmir valley,” reads the resignation letter in possession of Greater Kashmir.
Following her statement, the PDP office has faced several aggressive protests.