SRINAGAR: After emerging as the Third Front in Kashmir following joining of some rebel leaders of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the BJP ally Sajjad Gani Lone's Peoples Conference is making attempts to make inroads outside Kashmir and on Sunday wooed former MLA Kargil and ex-PDP spokesman to the party.
Muhammad Baqir Rizvi, who was elected as MLA from Kargil in 2014 Assembly polls and who had supported the then PDP-BJP coalition government in the State, today joined Peoples Conference in Jammu, the winter capital of the State. The former PDP spokesman Abhijeet Jasrotia also joined the Peoples Conference (PC) today. Both Rizvi and Jasrotia were welcomed into the party by PC chairman and separatist-turned-mainstream politician Sajjad Gani Lone.
Some other political activists from Jammu including Nitin Jamwal, Parshotam Kumar, Ashish Pandita, Advocate Abrar Ahmed Khan and Advocate Irfan Inqlabi also joined the PC. The PC with the tacit support of BJP has emerged as Third Front in Kashmir after half a dozen dissident PDP leaders including an ex-minister and two ex-MLAs and former National Conference spokesman joined the party.
However, despite joining of some disgruntled leaders, the influence of Sajjad Lone's party is restricted to north Kashmir and some pockets in central Kashmir including Srinagar.
With the joining of Rizvi and Jasrotia today, Sajjad has made his intentions clear that he wants to make inroads in Ladakh and Jammu region as well.
A leader close to Sajjad said many disgruntled leaders of PDP, NC and Congress are in contact with the PC chairman and many more leaders may join the party in coming days.
He said Sajjad is also in talks with some Congress leaders of north Kashmir to woo them to the party and further strengthen party's hold in north Kashmir.
Senior PC leader and former PDP minister Imran Reza Ansari said people, who are joining them, are taking conscious decision. "Everybody wants to be a partner in change. We are promising the change."Sajjad, whose brother is an executive member of separatist Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, is an ally of BJP.
Sajjad had forged an alliance with BJP before the 2014 State Assembly polls after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He has emerged as a key player for BJP in Kashmir and for this reason despite his party having only two members in 87-member J&K Assembly, he was allocated a ministry from BJP quota during three years of PDP-BJP coalition government in the State from March 1 2015 to June 19, 2018.
The BJP totally banks on Sajjad to form the government of its own in the State.
The BJP feels that if it manages to maintain its tally of 25 seats of 2014 Assembly elections in next Assembly polls also and if Sajjad's PC wins about a dozen seats, then it can form the government with help of some independents.
Sajjad is in good books of BJP leaders and is very close of BJP General Secretary and party's point man on Kashmir, Ram Madhav, who was the architect of PDP-BJP alliance.