'Party hijacked by unscrupulous elements with mysterious character': Major setback for Mehbooba Mufti as three senior PDP leaders quit

In a major setback for Mehbooba Mufti, three Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders on Thursday resigned from the party.

Dhaman Bhasin, Fallail Singh, and Pritam Kotwal quit the PDP, saying that the party has been hijacked by unscrupulous elements with a mysterious character. "We've no option but to quit the party which has been hijacked by unscrupulous, communal elements with a mysterious character," their resignation letter stated.

The trio also alleged that the party has become the "B team" of the National Conference (NC). "Apart from becoming the B team of the National Conference (NC), the party leadership has recently given some highly provocative and controversial statements against the basic principles of the founder of the party," it added.

This comes days after three founding members of PDP - including former Rajya Sabha MP T.S. Bajwa, resigned from the party. Senior leaders T S Bajwa, Hassan Ali Waffa, and Bed Mahajan resigned from the PDP on October 26. The trio was unhappy with Mehbooba's statement about not holding the tricolour till Jammu and Kashmir's special status, including its separate state flag, is restored.

In a letter addressed to Mehbooba Mufti, Jammu-based PDP leaders TS Bajwa, Ved Mahajan, and Hussain Waffa said they were feeling "uncomfortable" over some of her actions and utterances which hurt their patriotic feelings.

(Inputs from Agencies)