‘PDP will not be a part of coalition in Delhi but will work for Kashmir’
‘Will advocate for better Indo-Pak relations’
Srinagar: While congratulating all the PDP candidates who won the elections, Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said that the crushing mandate her party got in today’s Lok Sabah verdict has posed a challenge for her party. While addressing a press people at her official residence at Gupkar, Mehbooba said the ‘wave for change’ still continues in Jammu and Kashmir. According to KNS correspondent, she said the results are Lok Sabha elections are satisfactory for her party. “The Lok Sabha polls this time have resulted in a profound change in the political landscape of the country. People have participated in this election in unprecedented number to write a new script in country’s electoral history,” she said.
Mehbooba said that in Jammu and Kashmir, “we too witnessed a change that is unprecedented in its nature and dimensions. Democratic competition has achieved a new cutting edge in the State and people have participated in the process not only in respectable numbers but in case of Kashmir division they have had to brave heavy odds.”
She said: “The PDP has emerged as the leader bagging all the three seats from Kashmir valley while receiving a sizeable number of votes in Jammu region. This is a moment of glory for our party which has the distinction of being the youngest political organization of the State and which has been responsible for introducing a genuine competition in political scene of J&K which had witnessed the predominance of only one political party for better part of the past century.”
Mehbooba said: “The overwhelming mandate that we have received is a matter of great satisfaction for me as the President and the entire leadership of the party. We treat this as an opportunity to serve the state to the best of our ability and also recognize it as a challenge in view of the huge problems that the state faces and we have setout to address. For me personally this is an overwhelming occasion as I along with my distinguished colleagues Mr Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Mr Tariq Hameed Karra are trusted by the people for representing them in the highest democratic forum of the country. I am humbled by the new responsibility and the expectations that this vote entails.”
The PDP president said that these results also show that the new age voters vote for real issues. “We thank the people of the State in general for once again having reposed their trust in democratic process and constitutional methods of finding a resolution to the Kashmir issue and the issues of Jammu and Kashmir. We are grateful to them and I pray to God that we are able to discharge our duty towards them to the best of our ability and in accordance with our manifesto.”
Mehbooba said: “Based on this decisive mandate we will do exactly what we have stated in our manifesto; not look for ministerial berths and use the parliament as a forum for debate and dialogue on the Kashmir issue. I also express my appreciation for the State Administration for the smooth conduct of elections during which they had to face lots of challenges. The Election Commission of India rose to the peculiar challenges of credibility in the system and delivered a by and large free election.” She said that PDP can now legitimately claim to be a pan Jammu and Kashmir party and for this she has to thank the people and the party patron whose idealism and belief in the inherent strength of a democracy have paid rich dividends. (KNS)