Baig: Azad-led govt fell because of our folly

JAMMU: Peoples Democratic Party patron and Member of Parliament Muzaffar Hussain Baig on Monday admitted that the “Ghulam Nabi Azad-led coalition regime was toppled under a conspiracy in 2008 and the PDP had made a suicidal mistake by ending its relations with the Congress”.

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 7

Peoples Democratic Party patron and Member of Parliament Muzaffar Hussain Baig on Monday admitted that the “Ghulam Nabi Azad-led coalition regime was toppled under a conspiracy in 2008 and the PDP had made a suicidal mistake by ending its relations with the Congress”.

He was of view that the PDP would have won at least 50 seats during the 2014 Assembly elections if the party had not made such a mistake in 2008.

“In its political journey of less than 20 years, the PDP has faced many ups and downs. The decision to come out of the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Congress-PDP government in 2008 was a suicidal mistake for us. The Azad-led government fell because of our mistake. He was removed under a conspiracy….It caused a huge political loss to the PDP,” Baig said while addressing party workers after paying tributes to the PDP founder and former Chief Minister late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on his third death anniversary here.

“Had our relations with the Congress not soured in 2008, there would have been no NC-Congress government in 2009 and in 2014 too, we would have had our own government by winning 50 seats. One mistake is enough to change history,” the PDP MP said.

Without naming former Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, Baig took a dig at him, saying, “We thought the BJP will give us funds for development but unfortunately the person who I employed as an assistant was made the Finance Minister and given responsibility to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We also made a mistake by bringing Tassaduq Mufti into politics. The MLC seat must be given to a party leader from Jammu who deserves it.”

Earlier, Baig, while reacting to queries over senior leaders quitting the PDP, admitted that his party was passing through a difficult phase. “We made some mistakes that resulted in anger among workers and leaders and they started leaving us. But there are leaders who quit the party even after enjoying power and remaining in ministries for two or three terms. This is political opportunism,” Baig said.