PDP founder member Muzaffar Beigh attends PM’s Jammu rally

Former deputy chief minister and founder member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Muzaffar Hussain Beigh’s presence at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Jammu on Tuesday will impact the political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir and spoil the prospects of an already beleaguered PDP in Kashmir in the Lok Sabha elections.

Also read: Srinagar-Jammu highway closed after rain, snow batters J&K

Beigh, however, didn’t open his cards and said that he was the rally in response to an invite. “I’m here to listen to Prime Minister Modi. Has anyone told you that I am joining the BJP? Neither anyone has asked me to join the BJP nor have I come to join it,” he replied to a query. “Can’t one come to listen to his PM?” he added with a smile.

When asked if he would join the BJP if he gets an invite, he said, “Let the invite come. It’s not necessary to join but what’s more important is to perform one’s duties.”

Beigh was all praise for PM Modi saying, “After he came to power, there has been an improvement in Jammu and Kashmir by 500 times.”

He expressed confidence that the BJP would do well in Kashmir in the Lok Sabha elections and said that he had good relations with Modi since he was in the PDP-BJP government as a minister.

Beigh was deputy chief minister and finance minister in the PDP-Congress coalition government led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Asked if he was still with the PDP, Beigh said, “As of now, I am not associated with any party.”

Beigh ties with the PDP came under strain after Sayeed died in 2016 and differences grew with Mehbooba. He left the party, along with his wife Safina, who was the chief of PDP’s women wing, after she was denied district development council ticket from Sangrama by the PDP in 2020.

After the revocation of Article 370 in August 2019, Beigh had stayed away from active politics for some years as the Centre’s move bifurcated J&K into two Union territories – J&K with a legislative assembly and Ladakh without one.

With a law degree from Harvard Law School, he won the Lok Sabha elections from Baramulla on PDP ticket in 2014. In 2020, he was conferred the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third-highest civilian honour.

His wife and he rejoined the PDP, which is primarily based in south Kashmir, in January in a move that was expected to boost the party in north Kashmir, where it has lost many senior leaders in the last six years. However, Tuesday’s development has left the PDP in a fix.