‘Rebel’ Baig likely to be PDP patron

Amit Khajuria
Tribune News Service
Jammu, December 9

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The senior most PDP leader and Member of Parliament, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, is likely to be soon appointed as patron of the party as part of a political agreement between him and party president Mehbooba Mufti.

Sources said a political pact has been worked out by Mehbooba, who is facing a challenge to her leadership after Baig recently raised a banner of revolt against the party leadership. He accused the party leadership of undermining the democratic norms by boycotting the urban local bodies and panchayat elections.

The sources said the PDP president had worked out this compromise formula with Baig to keep intact the party which ruled the state twice from 2002 to 2005 and from 2015 to 2018.

After a series of setbacks for the PDP like the resignation of high-profile leader Haseeb Drabu and the BJP backing Peoples Conference leader Sajad Lone, Mehbooba had a meeting with Baig at his residence to discuss the problems faced by the party, said the sources. She is reported to have recalled his services to the party since the day PDP was founded in July 1999 and told him that the party needed his leadership. Incidentally, even as the PDP president post is the top most position in real terms in the party, the title of patron is higher in ranking.

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was the party patron until his death in January 2016. He was the founding president of the party when it was formed in 1999. Baig was made the interim president for a few months before Mehbooba was formally elected as party president in May 2003.

The sources said the party took the decision not only to arrest the trend of leaders leaving the party but also to secure votes in north Kashmir, where Baig wields considerable influence. Baig may also contest the next Assembly elections, the sources added.