Mehbooba’s brother to make debut, contest LS by-election

Tassaduq Mufti will contest the poll from south Kashmir

Tassaduq Mufti

The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Tuesday decided to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha by-polls for two seats in the Valley separately while the National Conference (NC) and the Congress are likely to contest together.

PDP chief spokesman Mehboob Beg said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s brother Tassaduq Mufti, 46, will contest the polls from the Anantnag constituency in south Kashmir.

Reluctant politician

A reluctant politician, Mr. Tassaduq, a Bollywood cinematographer, joined the PDP formally on January 7 on the first death anniversary of his father.

There was speculation that the party leaders wanted Mr. Tassaduq to work as an MLC in Kashmir, where he has already started working on many projects related to environment and tourism through non-government organisations (NGOs).

“It’s a bigger platform for Tassaduq to pursue his ideas and implement his projects as a Member Parliament. The PDP needs a young face with fresh ideas to talk to friends and foes in New Delhi and pitch for implementation of the Agenda of Alliance (a common minimum programme between the PDP and the BJP),” said Mr. Beg.

‘Crucial’ seat

For the crucial Srinagar seat, the PDP is fielding Nazir Ahmad Khan, a former Congress leader who contested the polls against NC working president Omar Abdullah in the 2014 Assembly polls and bagged 22,807 votes against Mr. Abdullah’s 23,717.

Kashmir’s Srinagar and Anantnag Lok Sabha seats are going to the polls on April 9 and 12 respectively.

The PDP’ alliance partner, the BJP, has also decided to field its candidates for the twin seats. “There will be no pre-poll alliance with the PDP as the party has decided to contest the elections independently,” said Ashok Kaul, BJP’s State general secretary.

The BJP’s high-level committee will announce the candidates soon. “The BJP’s policies, working atmosphere and public dealings have been widely accepted by the general public,” Mr. Kaul said.

The opposition NC and the Congress are “working out modalities” to contest the polls together.

The NC’s core group held a meeting in Srinagar on Tuesday where both NC president Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, former Chief Ministers, deliberated upon the candidature.

A top NC leader said there was a consensus on Dr. Abdullah’s candidature during the meeting.