Former Srinagar mayor Junaid Azim Mattu quits in another jolt to Apni Party
Junaid Azim Mattu is the fifth prominent face to leave the outfit after its dismal performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections
Apni Party leader and former Srinagar Municipality mayor, Junaid Azim Mattu resigned from the party making him the fifth prominent face to leave the outfit after its dismal performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Mattu has been with the party, led by Altaf Bukhari, since November 2020, when he joined it soon after its representatives met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They were the first members of a local party from Kashmir to meet the PM after the effective abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. He was with the People’s Conference at the time, his second stint in the party (he was with it till 2013 previously).
Mattu was with the National Conference between 2013 and 2018.
Mattu announced his exit from Apri Party on X. “It is with a heavy heart, and with all humility at my command, that I announce my decision to part ways with the J&K Apni Party,” he said.
He said that his decision was influenced by his pledge to do politics guided by “a sense of discerning the right from the wrong” and based on extensive consultations with his supporters.
“However, my own convictions are no longer congruent or symmetrical with the ideology of the party and in this situation — to still remain associated with the party or to contest elections as a party candidate would be out rightly disingenuous,” he wrote.
Mattu, now 39, became the mayor of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) for the second timein November 2020 afterwinning the mayoral elections of SMC.
In Nov 2018, Mattu secured his first term after winning the election with the help of BJP corporators.
A former financial analyst who returned from the US around 15 years ago, Mattu joined politics in 2009 with his first stint at the Sajad Gani Lone led PC.
Mattu is expected to fight assembly elections as an independent from Zadibal constituency of Srinagar. “I will address the media in a couple of days to share my views, answer questions and perhaps outline my intentions and goals going forward,” he said.
