A day after Peoples Democratic Party vice-president and other top office-bearers submitted their resignation, the party is set for a revamp. Party insiders said some senior leaders who held portfolios in the previous Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government were likely to get key posts following the restructuring.
“We are going to see that the key party posts will go to senior leaders, who have been associated with the party in the toughest times,” a senior PDP leader said. “Some of them were even ministers in the recent government, but didn’t hold any significant position in the party.”
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, party insiders said, is likely to give more prominent roles to senior party leaders Muzaffar Hussain Beig and Dilawar Mir, who were reportedly feeling sidelined. Beig and Mir could get advisory roles in the party, they said. The party is also set to revamp the political affairs committee and the executive committee.
Sources also said that Mehbooba was likely to keep her relatives away from top posts — a major reasons for dissent within the party.
“She (Mehbooba Mufti) has realised that it was a mistake on her part,” said another top party leader. “She is likely to follow her late father and keep the relatives at bay. Mufti (Mohammad Saeed) sahib had made his party as a family, and not his family as a party. That was the reasons for his success. I think, Mehboobaji has also realised it now.”
After the PDP-BJP coalition government in the state fell, there have been voices of dissent in the party. At least seven legislators publicly accused Mehbooba Mufti of giving preference to her relatives.
The legislators were reportedly upset after Mehbooba Mufti inducted her brother Tasaduq Mufti into her cabinet. They were also upset with vice-president Sartaj Madni’s — maternal uncle of Mehbooba Mufti —growing clout in the party.
On Monday, Madni resigned from his post in the party saying it was in “larger interest of the party”. Madni’s resignation was followed by other office-bearers of the party, who submitted their resignation to the party president to pave way for a revamp in party structure.
