SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was on Saturday re-elected president of ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the sixth consecutive term.
The PDP’s electoral college met at Jammu today to elect the party president. Mehbooba’s name was proposed by Finance minister Haseeb Drabu and it was seconded by senior party leader Trilok Singh Bajwa.
With Mehbooba being the only candidate for the post, she was re-elected unopposed as the party president for the sixth consecutive term.
58-year-old Mehbooba had taken over as the PDP president in 2003, four years after her father and his close confidants had floated the new party as an alternative to National Conference.
After being re-elected party president today, Mehbooba thanked the members of the electoral college and the party leaders for reposing trust in her leadership.
Later, in a tweet, she said she was thankful to the party in reposing their trust and electing her as the president. “I will work tirelessly to fulfil our shared vision of development, inclusiveness and reconciliation in Jammu and Kashmir.”
The credit for strengthening PDP in the Valley and taking it to the point, where it emerged as an alternative to deep rooted National Conference, goes to the Mehbooba.
When she was in opposition, she strengthened the party’s base in the Valley by playing “soft separatist” politics and talking of self-rule, India-Pakistan talks and Delhi-Hurriyat talks.
A law graduate, Mehbooba had joined the mainstream politics of the state in 1996 by joining the Congress.
She had taken over as a first woman chief minister of the State on April 4, 2016 as head of PDP-BJP coalition government after the death of her father and former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in January last year.
The PDP leaders, ministers and legislators in a joint statement congratulated Mehbooba for being re-elected as the party president
“Mehbooba is an embodiment of struggle and her grass root connect is a glaring quality of her leadership,” they said.
Meanwhile, opposition National Conference working president and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also congratulated Mehbooba on her re-election as PDP president.
"Congratulations to Mehbooba Mufti on being re-elected as PDP president. We may not agree on much these days but I wish you well," Omar tweeted.
In her reply, Mehbooba wrote, "Thanks for the wishes Omar. Debate is the essence of democracy so we can agree to disagree on certain issues."
According to political analysts, Mehbooba’s re-election as PDP president was expected.
They said her real challenge would be to gain the ground lost by the party in its stronghold in south Kashmir after last year’s unrest following killing of 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
South Kashmir has emerged as stronghold of militants and was the epicentre of last year’s unrest when 92 civilians were killed and thousands injured in security forces firing.