Both the Mehbooba Mufti led People’s Democratic Party and its ally Bharatiya Janata Party are facing rebellion from their ranks in Jammu and Kashmir, insiders told The Sunday Guardian.
Rebellion is brewing in both parties over the Kathua rape and murder case in particular and simmering discontent over the alliance in general ahead of a Cabinet reshuffle.
BJP’s worries in Jammu have increased manifold after the sacking of two influential ministers, Chowdhary Lal Singh and Chandar Prakash Ganga on the charge of supporting rallies asking for CBI inquiries into the Kathua case. Lal Singh is in a revolt mode. While talking to this reporter he said that they were sent to Kathua by state party president Sat Sharma to pacify the agitators of Rasana village, to which the accused belong. The villagers claim that the accused have been framed in the case. Hitting out at the BJP, Singh said that the party would have to clarify to the people of Jammu why it was surrendering to the PDP’s Kashmir-centric agenda. Lal Singh said that he would continue to hold protests and that he would not be silenced by BJP or any other force. He said that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, on the instruction of hardline separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, was refusing to hand over the Kathua case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Although state BJP president Sat Sharma has said that the Cabinet reshuffle was being delayed because of Karnataka elections, party insiders say that the delay is because resentment is growing among BJP MLAs against the party’s decision to sack the two ministers at the instance of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. Many BJP MLAs are apparently threatening to resign. Sat Sharma is facing much heat from the MLAs and has apparently requested the central leadership to include him in the new Cabinet and give the charge of the party in the state to a more acceptable face.
Rebellion was already brewing in PDP against Mehbooba Mufti. By sacking her Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, over his comment that Kashmir was not a political problem, the Chief Minister had sent a strong signal that she would not tolerate any rebellion in her party. Mehbooba Mufti tried to pacify senior PDP leader and MP from Baramulla, Muzaffar Beigh by nominating his wife Safina Beigh as the president of PDP women’s wing. However, many PDP MLAs, if they are not included in the Cabinet in the proposed reshuffle, may aggravate the problems for Mehbooba.
The rebel forces have got a face now in the form of her brother, Tassaduq Mufti, who recently said that PDP should say goodbye to power so as to retain its base in Kashmir. He got major support from party leaders who are opposing the continuation of the alliance with the BJP. At a recent meeting, senior PDP leaders told her that if she failed to get the Centre’s support for opening a dialogue with the separatists and getting anti militancy operations suspended, she should resign. Though at the end of the meeting the PDP top brass left it to Mehbooba Mufti to take a decision on the matter, in the absence of any forward movement on the agenda of alliance signed with the BJP, she is facing a huge challenge to carry on with the coalition. According to a senior PDP minister, they are expecting some positive intervention by the central leadership of BJP to start a Kashmir initiative and said that if that did not happen, it would be difficult for them to stay in the alliance.
Meanwhile, in Jammu, the opposition Congress and the J&K National Panthers’ Party have launched a tirade against the BJP, accusing it of “selling the mandate of the people of Jammu” to the PDP for remaining in power in the state. Panthers’ Party chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh, who has been addressing public rallies in various parts of Jammu, claimed that the region was facing an existential threat because of the BJP.