PDP promises support to NC

Srinagar, Oct 23: Asserting that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) would use its votes in the Legislative Assembly to choose the Rajya Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir with an intention to “keep BJP away”, former chief minister and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said her party legislators would vote for the third National Conference ( NC) candidate Shammi Oberoi.

Addressing a news conference, Mehbooba specified that her party would desist from voting for the fourth “risky seat”.

She said that PDP wants to stay away from “being blamed” in case of NC losing the fourth seat.

“Let us be clear that we will vote for the third seat. NC can divert its votes for the fourth seat if it wishes to. We clearly don’t want the NC to pass the buck of their defeat on us,” the PDP president said.

She took a swipe at NC leadership for “breaking People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) for its own interests” and for keeping its alliance partner Congress away from the Rajya Sabha poll fray.

“We want to stop the communal forces with the help of our vote. They (NC) didn’t even regard the purpose of PAGD to keep the communal forces away, and dissolved it when they didn’t see any benefit in it. Even today, they are part of the INDIA alliance of which the Congress is the largest party, whose leader Rahul Gandhi is spearheading a fight across the country, but even his party has been kept outside the Rajya Sabha polls fray (by NC),” Mehbooba said.

She said that with its three legislators, PDP would vote for a party (NC) that didn’t deserve this support, but the vote was for the larger fight against the BJP.

“We are voting (for NC) to stop the fascist forces. So, we are anyway voting for NC. Our vote will be in the larger interest of a fight against the BJP,” the PDP chief said. “Our party leadership is hopeful that the assurance given by Farooq Abdullah Sahab and subsequently seconded by NC leader Shammi Oberoi that PDP’s two bills, one on land rights and the other on regularisation of daily wagers, will get NC’s support for a passage in the Assembly.”

She said that the NC President had called her up to seek the PDP’s vote in the Rajya Sabha polls for J&K scheduled to be held on Friday, October 24.

Mehbooba said she had conveyed to Abdullah that a few of the bills of the PDP must be given passage in the Assembly, based on which her party would vote for the NC candidate for the RS polls.

The PDP President stressed the land rights of people, saying houses and other structures have been bulldozed” while snatching away people’s hard-earned properties.

“We want the constant threats of people’s land being snatched or seized to end once and for all so that they can live with dignity. The Scheduled Tribe (ST) population in Samba, Kathua, and even parts of Kashmir have been the worst affected with the snatching away of their land,” she said. “Besides, the hoteliers who have been running their businesses for decades have been in grave danger, fearing the fate of their properties. These are the same hoteliers who have shared proximity with the NC that remained in power for 60 years, while we have had tenure of just 6 years in the government.”

Mehbooba said that the leases of the hoteliers were being disregarded and would eventually be given to outsiders.

“We think that is completely unjustified,” she said.

The former chief minister said the abrogation of Article 370 dealt a blow to safeguarding the land rights of locals.

She said that the PDP leader and MLA Pulwama, Waheed-ur-Para, had introduced a bill in the Assembly that people who had in the past made constructions on the grazing land and other Shamliyati land must be recognised and given ownership rights.

“I urged Farooq Sahab to help us in the passage of this bill, the fate of which was even challenged by LoP Sunil Sharma,” she said.