The Peoples Democratic Party suffered a big blow in Jammu as three of its senior leaders, including two founding members, forwarded their resignation letter to party chief Mehbooba Mufti claiming that her recent utterances regarding the national flag have “hurt patriotic sentiments”.
In a joint letter to Mehbooba, former PDP MP TS Bajwa, Ved Mahajan and Hussain Ali Waffa said, “We feel uncomfortable and suffocated, forcing us to take a difficult decision of leaving the party.” Waffa, is a former PDP state secretary, and Mahajan a former MLC.
In her first press conference after over 14 months of detention, Mehbooba on Friday had said she was not interested in contesting elections or holding the tricolour till the constitutional changes enforced on August 5 last year were rolled back.
The PDP leader had also said that she would hold the tricolour only when the separate flag of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir was restored. The Centre on August 5 last year had abrogated the erstwhile state’s special status and bifurcated it into union territories of Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh.
