Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said Delhi was deeply rattled by the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) but “will not break our resolve to stand united and fight for what's rightfully ours”.
The PDP chief’s comments come days after some Alliance leaders pressed for its discontinuation.
“Delhi is deeply rattled by the PAGD so I expect a false campaign to intensify in the coming days. Many PDP leaders are already arrested and I expect the situation to worsen. But this will not break our resolve to stand united and fight for what's rightfully ours,” Ms. Mufti said, in a tweet.
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The former chief minister said that amidst all the unnecessary speculation about the PAGD, she sought “to make a few things absolutely clear.”
In a series of tweets, Ms Mufti said, “The purpose of this grand alliance is not for petty electoral gains. It exists for a much larger cause and purpose i.e. to restore J&K's special status,” she said.
Ms. Mufti termed recent differences within the alliance as “baseless theories being deliberately floated to discredit the PAGD amongst masses since they overwhelmingly voted for us in the District Development Council (DDC) elections".
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“Regardless of who fought how many seats, our purpose to deny BJP and its proxies democratic space has been achieved,” she added.
Her remarks assumed significance in the wake of recent allegations made by the alliance leaders about the constituents of the Gupkar alliance fielding proxy candidates against each other in the DDC polls.
Recently, NC's Basharat Bukhari, PDP's Fayaz Mir and PC's Imran Ansari and Abdul Ghani Vakil publicly criticised the Alliance leadership and questioned its intent, besides pressing for its discontinuation.
The Gupkar Alliance, an amalgam of six parties including the National Conference, the Peoples Democratic Party and the Peoples Conference (PC), saw arch rivals coming together last year “to fight for restoration of pre-August 5 position of J&K”.