Lone’s goodbye to PAGD no surprise, others to follow: BJP leader
Jammu: Senior BJP leader and former Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta on Wednesday said there is no surprise element in the departure of Sajad Lone-led People’s Conference from the Gupkar alliance as “fall of this opportunistic” amalgam is inevitable.
Lone on Tuesday announced his party’s exit from the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), citing “breach of trust” and saying some constituents of the seven-member grouping had fielded proxy candidates in the recent district development council (DDC) elections.
Reacting to the development, Gupta claimed that the formation of the PAGD was nothing but “marriage of convenience” between various political entities in the Valley to save their “sinking ships” as the BJP through its move of abrogating Article 370 has made their presence irrelevant.
“As the PAGD was an amalgam of parties having ideologies that are poles apart, even a novice in the political arena could foresee that the ‘castle’ viz PAGD made by opportunistic dynasts of the Valley has to fall sooner than later and exit of People’s Conference is just the beginning,” he said.
He said the era of exploiting people in the name of religion, region or communities has gone and those political parties which abused power in the last over 70 years by befooling masses have “no takers” left in J-K.
The PAGD swept the maiden DDC polls by winning 110 of the 280 seats, while the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 75 seats.
