All office-bearers of the Peoples Democratic Party submitted their resignation to party president and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday, hours after Sartaj Madni resigned as the party’s vice-president.
“Yes, all the functionaries of the party have resigned,” PDP chief spokesman Rafi Ahmad Mir told media. “They include the vice-president, general secretary and party treasurers.”
Sources in the party said the PDP president was planning to restructure the party and some key position would be given to the members, who were senior ministers in the PDP-BJP coalition government.
After submitting his resignation, Madni, who is Mehbooba Mufti’s uncle, had told media: “Yes, I have resigned as the vice-president of the party. I have submitted by resignation to the party president in the larger interests of the party and for its strength, stability and unity.”
While the PDP had maintained a silence over Madni’s resignation, party sources said the party president had asked him to step down to pacify the dissenting voices within the party.
Seven PDP legislators had come out in the open against revolted against the party leadership after the PDP-BJP coalition government in the state fell, following the withdrawal of support by the saffron party.
Madni was at the centre of a controversy with rebel legislators openly accusing him of influencing the party’s political decisions.
Some rebel legislators, including Shia cleric Imran Raza Ansari, had also accused the party president of running a “family raj” in the party.
Besides Madni, Mehbooba’s maternal uncle Farooq Andrabi was a minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government.
She had earlier also brought in her brother Tasaduq Mufti and made him a minister in her cabinet.
A lawyer-turned-politician, Madni was forced into politics by former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. He was elected as a legislator from Devsar constituency of south Kashmir in 2002 Assembly polls, but lost to Congress candidate Mohammad Amin Bhat in 2014 elections.
