In the recently held District Development Council (DDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir, a united front of the opposition parties who fought against the BJP has started cracking the alliance. Some leaders have questioned the appropriateness of the front.
Senior National Conference leader and former minister Basharat Bukhari has questioned the agenda of the alliance, saying that the alliance should clear its road map after the election for the restoration of Article 370. Without him, the secret alliance will remain as another Hurriyat Conference.
Meanwhile, a senior leader of the Gupta group is reported to have met Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The Kashmiri leader also attended a dinner hosted by his party's president Altaf Bukhari. However, Altaf has denied holding any such dinner.
The DDC elections were contested by Farooq Abdullah's National Conference, Mehbooba Mufti's PDP, Sajjad Lone's People's Conference, and CPM's People's Alliance for Group Declaration (PAGD). But out of 280 DDC in the state, it could get only 110 seats.
After this, differences have started emerging on this front. National Conference leaders allege that senior PDP leaders deliberately fielded unauthorized candidates against their candidates. These include PDP Mahila Morcha president Safina Baig and party general secretary, Nasir Ahmad Khan.