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| Hassan Mir's expulsion opens flood gate of desertions from PDP | | Party poised for vertical split | |
JAMMU:
Anxiety is writ large on the faces of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti and other top leaders of the PDP over prospects of large scale desertions from the party at a time when elections to the state assembly are only six months ahead. The expulsion of a long time dissident party leader, Ghulam Hassam Mir, from the primary membership of the party, is feared to open a flood gate of exit from the party of many other leaders and activists. According to the sources who are well aware of the chemistry of PDP, a vertical split in the party, is imminent, which may however take sometime, awaiting the formation of the third front, as is contemplated by the expelled founder member of the party and former minister in Mufti led coalition government, Ghulam Hassan Mir.
The PDP patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti, who is the President of the party, had visualized the clout that Ghulam Hassan Mir, three times MLA from Tangmarg assembly constituency in North Kashmir and who had humbled the then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah's brother and a cabinet minister, from Tangmarg in 2002, carried with rank and file in the PDP. It was in the light of this realization that the father and daughter duo, who form the top leadership of the party, were bearing with the rebellion within the party by Mir and took quite a long time to ultimately show him the door. Among the acts of rebellion indulged into by Mir included open allegations against the party leadership, even implicitly holding Mufti Mohammad Sayeed responsible for the assassination of Ghulam Nabi Lone, MoS for Education in Mufti led government, at his high security zone official residence in Tulsi Bagh, Srinagar. It was Ghulam Hassan Mir, who had fielded a rebel candidate, Shoaib Lone, the son of assassinated PDP leader, Ghulam Nabi Lone in Hoshangabad constituency, in the by election cause by the death of his father, against the official party candidate, who happens to be the cousin brother of present Deputy Chief Minister and PDP leader Muzaffar Hussan Baig. It was due to the strong support extended by Mir and his canvassing for Shoaib Lone that he won the election, defeating the official PDP candidate. Following this, Mir was only suspended from the party. Although he continued indulging in openly and sharply criticizing the party leadership, precisely Mufti Sayeed, Mehbooba Mufti and his arch rival in the party Muzaffar Hussain Baig, the party leadership did not go beyond keeping him in suspended animation. However, in the wake of Muzaffar Hussain Baig temporarily falling from the grace of father-daughter duo in the PDP, the suspension of Hassan Mir was suo-moto revoked by the leadership. Even after that Mir was not reconciled with the treatment meted out to him by the Muftis and carried on the banner of revolt. His other disagreement with the party leadership has been on the issue of demilitarization, withdrawal of AFSPA and self-rule, the three main planks of PDP. The party leadership could not help bearing with these anti party leadership activities indulged into by Mir. He was expelled only when he started talking openly about the formation of third front, by carrying a large number of party leaders and activists with him to the new formulation conceived by him.
Another party MLA Zarfarz Khan has joined Mir in exposing the dictatorial and dynastic trends in the PDP. Shoaib Lone who is presently an independent MLA is all set to join Mir's camp. The two JMC corporators too have been the ardent supporters of Ghulam Hassan Mir. But what is worrying the party most is the hint thrown by Mir about surprises ahead of Muftis, indicating that some top party leaders may side with him and join the third front, whenever it is formed. The speculations are rife over the future course of action to be adopted by a recently entrant in the party, Mohammad Dilawar Mir who defected from National Conference and is presently a cabinet minister from PDP quota in the Azad led government. Ghulam Hassan Mir and Dilawar Mir are known to be close friends and the latter is believed to have deserted the NC and joined PDP through the efforts of Ghulam Hassan Mir. With another NC defector into the PDP, Saddiq Ali deserting the party and joining back the National Conference, speculations about future line of action to be adopted by Dilawar Mir are getting hot currency. Among the other probables deserting the PDP in the near future are Mohammad Sultan Pandipuri, Bilal Lodhi, former minister Ghulam Hassan Khan, Javed Ahmed Dar, Raja Manzoor from Karanah, former minister Sonaullah Dar and former minister Ghulam Kadar Mir from Kupwara. While most of them are expected to join the third front being worked out by Ghulam Hassan Mir, some of them are reported to be negotiating with the NC.
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