Apni Party president Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Friday rebutted a news report mentioning some dinner meeting between him and one of the leaders of PAGD that has purportedly taken place in New Delhi.
On Thursday, IANS news agency ran a report in which it claimed that the PAGD – an alliance of seven valley-based political parties – has begun to develop cracks after a senior Kashmiri leader’s recent visit to New Delhi.
“According to the well-placed political and bureaucratic sources privy to the development, the Kashmiri leader has also attended a dinner meeting with the Apni Party founder-president Altaf Bukhari,” the report had claimed.
Referring to this news story, Bukhari said that he is not at all interested about the formation, composition or any kind of split within PAGD which came into existence in J&K by “propagating lies and deceit among the people.”
“Such a superficial alliance was formed to make its allies relevant among the people in a politically hostile atmosphere. These parties have always duped the people of J&K for the last over 70 years through hollow and misleading slogans. People know that this alliance will collapse on its own,” he said, in a statement issued today.
Bukhari said it hardly needs any political machinations to engineer fissures within a “politically opportunistic alliance that was primarily formed without any sincerity of the purpose.”
“I have not participated in any dinner meeting in New Delhi as has been reported by the news agency. PAGD may develop cracks on its own but there are few political elements within this formation who would like to wash their dirty linen in public by spreading such canards through the media,” he said.
Bukhari said the “so called” Peoples’ Alliance (PAGD) has started feeling the heat from the ground as the people want results from it on its poll promises and tall claims made by its leadership since its inception.
“It seems the PAGD leadership is now trying to maneuver a new political model to hoodwink the people before next elections attributing its absolute failure to the imminent breakup within this amalgam,” he remarked.
On the other hand, Bukhari said, Apni Party has from day one made its socio-economic and political agenda clear among the people and it is committed to what it has claimed in the public.