 Early Times Report
Jammu, Apr 7: Formed with much publicity on August 4, 2019, the Peoples’ Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) ultimately collapsed with the declaration of candidates by the Peoples’ Democratic Party for the three Lok Sabha seats of Kashmir Valley.
PDP Parliamentary Board Chief Sartaj Madni on Sunday announced the party candidates for the three seats of Kashmir. The party president Mehbooba Mufti will contest the Lok Sabha polls from the Anantnag-Rajouri. The party’s youth wing president Waheed Parra will contest the polls from Srinagar and former Rajya Sabha member Mir Fayaz from Baramulla.
The candidates were announced by the party at a press conference addressed by Mufti and Madni. They said the PDP will support the Congress on two Jammu region seats of Udhampur and Jammu. On August 4, 2019, a day before the Union government announced the abrogation of Article 370, political parties in Kashmir, except the BJP, met at the residence of NC president Farooq Abdullah at Gupkar Road in Srinagar and issued a joint statement defending Article 370. Since then, the joint statement has been known as the “Gupkar Declaration”. However, public spats and internal rifts have damaged the once-unified front, exposing the underlying power struggles and differences that simmered beneath the surface.
After the party announced her candidate for the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat Mufti expressed regret over the inability to maintain unity among the PAGD allies, citing the unilateral announcement of candidates by the National Conference (NC). Mufti lamented the lack of coll PAGD was formed on August 4, 2019.
Since then public spats and internal rifts have damaged the once-unified front.
Mehbooba has expressed regret over the inability to maintain unity among the PAGD allies.
She cited the unilateral announcement of candidates by the NC as the main reason for PAGD split.
With much publicity, the PAGD was formed by six political parties with the pledge of perseverance and steadfastness towards the restoration of Article 370. This resolution was written in the Alliance's declaration where the political parties stated there would be “nothing about us without us,” meaning they will stick together come what may.
“We want to assure people that all our political activities will be subservient to the sacred goal of reverting to the status of J&K as it existed before August 2019,” read PAGD's declaration.
Within a couple of months after its formation, PAGD had received a severe jolt when Sajad Lone of Peoples' Conference, left the alliance. Lone charged both NC and PDP with fielding proxy candidates against the officially mandated candidates of the alliance as during the DDC elections. He called these actions “a breach of trust”.
In response to questions regarding the PDP's role in INDIA alliances, Mufti affirmed the party's unconditional support for the Congress on two seats in Jammu. She emphasized the imperative of collective action against the BJP's divisive agenda, stressing that unity is paramount in safeguarding the foundational principles of the nation.
“Our support to Congress is unconditional without a rider for their support to us because we believe that unity is paramount in the fight for securing the democratic and constitutional ethos of our country,” she said. | 