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| Dissident PDP leaders mull third front options | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Oct 31
Locked in a battle of nerves with the major ally Congress, Jammu and Kashmir's ruling coalition partner Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is facing another problem as some of its dissident leaders are mulling to launch a third front.
A senior leader of the party, Ghulam Hassan Mir, who has emerged as a strong dissident voice, is toying with the idea of third front - equidistant from the opposition National Conference and the PDP.
Mir, once a close associate of former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, is unhappy with the PDP leadership, particularly Mufti and his daughter and party president Mehbooba Mufti.
Sources close to Mir said that he is waiting an "opportune time" to launch his third front, which would have among others independent legislator Usman Majid from Bandipora and from within PDP former minister Sarfaraz Khan.
There is a possibility of Transport Minister Hakim Mohammad Yaseen, who is also chairman of the Peoples Democratic Front, joining hands with Mir, sources said.
Mir is keeping his cards close to his chest but has not ruled out the possibility of "other options". "In politics, everything and anything is possible," he told IANS, when asked about the third front buzz.
His differences with the Muftis started in 2005 when he favoured that the PDP should hand over chair to the Congress as per the power-sharing agreement on rotational basis.
This idea was to the dislike of the Muftis and a section of PDP leadership that wanted the Mufti to continue as chief minister beyond three-year term, which ended on Nov 2, 2005.
Mir has had stints in the National Conference and the Congress before he formed the PDP along with Mufti Sayeed and others like Muzzaffar Hussain Baig, a former deputy chief minister.
Asked about his agenda, Mir, who was a tourism minister in the Mufti Sayeed government, said: "I want that the real problems of the people should be addressed."
"There is a huge problem of unemployment and we have fed our youth on slogans and always made them to look for government jobs. That has hurt our economy and kept us away from self-reliance.
"My call to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and especially the youth, is that we have the rich natural resources of water, agriculture and unique horticulture. We can script our economic destiny, instead of looking at the script of the vacancies in government services," he said.
"If you ask me, my one-point agenda is economic self-reliance", and that is what, he said, would be his major theme in the elections, with whichever political dispensation he is associated. |
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