SRINAGAR: In an election announced as a direct contest between the Popular Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration and Bjp, a detached acolyte from Mehbooba Mufti with a nine-month party has emerged as the unlikely kingmaker who shepherds a group of independents to form the first semi-rural Srinagar District Development Council (DDC).
While the National Conference of Srinagar Deputy Farooq Abdullah and the rest of the Gupkar alliance had built their DDC election campaign around the fight for the restoration of J & K’s special status, Altaf Bukhari of the Apni Party spoke about development as his choice of balm to heal the “wounded pride, self-esteem and confidence” of the Kashmiris.
All the pieces fell into place for Bukhari, who was finance minister in Mehbooba’s former cabinet. Farooq’s pocket district elected three Apni Party candidates and seven independents in the race for the 14 seats, leaving the seven-party Gupkar alliance a surprising third with three victories. BJP got the remaining seat.
Although the Apni Party or the candidates endorsed by it did not fare so well elsewhere except North KashmirBaramulla and Jammu, where it won two seats each, the strategy that turned the tables on Gupkar’s alliance in Srinagar could become the template for future surveys. In total, Apni Party finished with a 12-seat tally.
“He may have been seen as a small player in the electoral battle, but Bukhari was always known for his political management. His fledgling party has a group of carefully selected veterans, including former MLA and MLC from the PDP. There are some former congressional officials, Also. Junaid Mattu of the Apni Party is already the mayor of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation, “said an aide.
Amid the high-voltage, and sometimes controversial speeches and statements from the Gupkar alliance think tank, Bukhari always maintained that insisting on the repeal of Article 370 was like whipping a dead horse. “Although the deprivation of statehood has been unpleasant and bitter for J&K and its people, the Apni Party would like to focus on development. The misery of the people, particularly the youth, can only end through the development of J&K,” he had said at the launch of his party in March.
Srinagar Mayor Mattu joked the Gupkar alliance on Wednesday, saying that all the candidates who won thanks to the promise to restore J & K’s special status should now fulfill it “within a month.”
He said in a press in Srinagar that the DDC elections were aimed at creating an administration for development, but several parties and candidates pointed to “issues that would compound the pain.”
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