Just as the Minister for Animal Husbandry and Science and Technology in the new J&K Government, Sajjad Lone, seems to have expressed his unhappiness over the ‘insignificant’ portfolio, more leaders have come out in open showing unhappiness over representation in the government. Accusing the Peoples Democratic Party of favouritism and prioritising “armchair politicians over grassroots leaders,” party leader Abid Hussain Ansari has come out in open revolt.
The PDP’s Shia face, the Ansaris, told The Hindu that their community was unhappy over the representation they got in the new government after “supporting them wholeheartedly” and “helping the party win in eight constituencies.”
“Our supporters are unhappy and feel left behind. Mufti Sahib [Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed] had promised the Shia community that this government would give them representation that it has lacked since 1947, but they have again been forsaken after they voted in immense numbers for the party,” Mr. Abid Ansari told The Hindu .
“They [government] inducted Imran Sahib into the Cabinet but gave him an insignificant Ministry, and our people are not happy about it,” he said.
Imran Reza Ansari, son of the late Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, veteran politician, is a famous Shia leader in the Valley who succeeded his father as president of the J&K Shia Association. While Imran won the Assembly elections from the Pattan constituency, his uncle, Abid Ansari, won from Zadibal in Srinagar. Imran was inducted into the Cabinet as Minister for IT and Youth Services and Sports, which the Ansaris see as “relatively unimportant Ministries where they cannot help their people.”
‘Must deliver on promises’ “Like the NC, our party too is becoming a top-down party and I hope they don’t go on that path of ruin. We are people of the ground, we have to return to it to seek votes; that should not be undermined by other things. We have to deliver on the promises we made to our supporters and make them feel part of the government,” Mr. Imran said. “My personal happiness or unhappiness does not matter, my people are unhappy and they are expressing it to us. I will come to the Valley on Saturday to speak with my people. For now, I am coming back to Kashmir indefinitely,” Mr. Imran said.
