The political ecosystem in the Jammu and Kashmir region is witnessing an upheaval, with speculation rife about several politicians leaving their parties, ahead of the state assembly polls due to take place after a gap of 10 years.
Local press reports suggest politicians, who had previously left the regional People’s Democratic Party, are returning to its fold.
Observers noted that the movement of politicians is more a reflection of current Kashmiri politics, rather than party revivals.
The PDP has been facing a political exodus after its coalition government, with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Peoples Conference (PC), fell in 2018.
Detention of its prominent members in August 2019 and the arrest of its youth politician, Waheed Parra, on terrorism charges further weakened the party base.
However, the PDP head and former state chief, Mehbooba Mufti, has maintained a staunch anti-BJP stance, despite her party faced a major defeat in the general election, losing all its three contested seats.
Homecoming or no alternative?
Two senior politicians from the PDP, speaking to Sputnik on the condition of anonymity, said the party is indeed in talks with several politicians who had previously abandoned the faction.
One of the names circulating in the local press is that of Basharat Bukhari, a former cabinet minister in the PDP-BJP government. On Thursday, Bukhari officially rejoined the party after spending considerable amounts of time at the regional National Conference (NC) and the PC.
"I have spent some time in other parties but did not like them," Bukhari told Sputnik on Thursday. He explaind his return despite the party’s dismal performance in the parliamentary polls, that "Parliamentary elections do not replicate in assembly polls. State elections may produce different results."
A senior PDP politician said the lack of space in the other regional power (NC) is also prompting several politicians to do a "homecoming".
Sputnik contacted several of the politicians rumored to return to the PDP. While Bukhari was forthcoming with his responses, the majority of the politicians either denied the speculations outright or refused to comment.
Former PDP politicians, Abdul Majeed Padder and Rahim Rather, whose names are also making the rounds, also spoke to Sputnik. Padder expressed his loyalty to the Apni Party "till his death".
"If there’s news that I have approached the PDP to rejoin it, it is false. However, there is nothing wrong in our former colleagues at the PDP talking to us," Rather said in turn.
A politician Imran Ansari posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he would "prefer death to the dishonor of approaching any other political party, let alone a drowning entity like the PDP".
Aftermath
Of the five parliamentary seats in Jammu and Kashmir, NC and BJP managed to score two wins each. Awami Itehad Party Chief Abdul Rashid, currently in jail on terrorism charges, also won a seat.
The BJP did decide not to field its own candidates for the three seats of Kashmir province, relying instead on "friendlier parties", including the PC and the newly founded Apni Party.
Despite the parliamentary poll results suggested that out of the 90 assembly segments, the NC is leading in 34 segments, followed by the BJP in 29, a senior BJP politician, speaking to Sputnik on the condition of anonymity, expressed hope in independent candidates and "friendlier parties".
"We are sure of [winning] at least 30 seats in Jammu. Five more seats in Jammu could tilt towards us, but in Kashmir, we must formulate a strong strategy if we want to form the next government here. There won’t be any pre-poll alliance, that is for sure. As to what happens post election, only time will tell," said the politician.
Meanwhile, the emerging numbers, which reveal the NC's strength in Kashmir and BJP’s in Jammu, have also been seen as a major factor in the politicians' switch from one party to another.