india

Updated: Dec 19, 2018 23:04 IST

Two former Jammu and Kashmir ministers on Thursday joined Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) a day after ex-chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) expelled them.

Basharat Bukhari and Peer Hussain’s expulsions follow a spate of resignations from the PDP since Mufti lost power in June after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew support to her government. The two were expelled for “anti-party activities” around a month after Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the assembly after Mufti staked claim to form a government with the NC support on November 21.

Farooq Abdullah inducted the two in presence of his son and NC vice-president, Omar Abdullah. Hussain said they had contested the last elections in 2014 to keep the BJP away.

“When we emerged as the single largest party, instead of keeping the BJP away, we facilitated its entry into Kashmir,” said Hussain, who was an MLA from south Kashmir’s Shangas. Bukhari said, “For me, it was impossible to reach her level. I did not want to disturb her and, as a mark of respect, I have left the PDP,” said Bukhari, a two-time lawmaker from north Kashmir’s Sangrama.

Bukhari said the NC was his natural choice since it is a regional party. Another leader, Raja Ajaz Ali Khan, resigned from the PDP last week, days after former minister, Haseeb Drabu, quit the party on December 6. Another former minister, Imran Reza Ansari, earlier left the PDP along with legislators, Abid Ansari and Abbas Wani. Imran Reza Ansari and Abid Ansari joined Sajjad Lone’s party. Khan and Wani are likely to follow suit.

Many leaders skipped a meeting Mufti had called on December 11 to discuss the defections. She later underplayed the exits saying “leaders come and go during the election time”. PDP spokesman Tahir Sayeed echoed Mufti on Wednesday and said, “The PDP is strong party and people come and go.”

In New Delhi, President Ram Nath Kovind signed a notification imposing the President’s Rule in the state on Wednesday, according to Union home ministry officials.

Earlier, Farooq Abdullah reiterated his party’s demand for early state polls. “I think the Governor and the President’s Rule must end. There should be elections and people must choose their representatives...,” he said. The Governor’s Rule was imposed in the state on June 20.

(With agency inputs)