Mehbooba cracks whip on wrangling PDP ministers
SRINAGAR: Bitter and incensed over internal party bickering and growing coteries, ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti has appointed a party leader as an interface between her and ministers to reassert grip over the party.
Sources said junior Mufti, also a Member of Parliament from south Kashmir’s Anantnag constituency, has hit a low with party patron and state chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed too. The father-daughter duo, according to sources, was not on the same page on a number of issues, which brought some bitterness in the relationship.
The recent reshuffles, several postings and PDP ministers’ brazen indulgence in groupism, self-promotion and politics to quarantine Sayeed saw Mehbooba taking an extreme and rare step this week. She has appointed a close confidante Peerzada Mansoor Hussain as her political advisor, who will double up as a go-between for the PDP minsters and junior Mufti.
“Mansoor will assist the president in day to day organisational matters and convey her directions on different subjects whenever necessary. He will also liaise with the party ministers and remain in contact with the government on behalf of the party president to take up and pursue matters of public interest and grievances,” said a PDP spokesman.
The decision to appoint a liaison between Mehbooba and ministers is former’s attempt to regain grip over party affairs, particularly ministers. The move comes in the background of two senior cabinet ministers haggling over influence within the party, dividing it into two camps vertically. The situation reached to a point where presence of a senior cabinet minister will keep another cabinet minister away even in chief minister Sayeed’s public appearances, interaction with civil society and tours of constituencies.