Srinagar: Going by the mandate in Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti faces an uphill task to keep the PDP flag flying.
The PDP, which formed a government in the erstwhile state in 2014 in alliance with the BJP, won just three seats of the total 84 it contested in the assembly elections.
Mehbooba Mufti, who was chief minister from 2016 to 2018, did not contest this time. Her daughter Iltija Mufti lost from the Srigufwara-Bijbehara seat in her first assembly polls.
Mehbooba Mufti was apparently hoping that her PDP wins enough seats to stay relevant in regional politics.
An indication of the low expectations of the party was expressed by Iltija before the elections when she said “PDP will be the kingmaker” as the elections will throw up a hung assembly.
A law graduate, 65-year-old Mehbooba Mufti took the plunge into mainstream politics of the state in 1996 by joining Congress, along with her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, at a time when militancy was at its peak.
She was the first and the last woman chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The PDP president campaigned actively for the candidates in the hope of reviving her party which has suffered most defections since 2018.
The exit polls predicted that the PDP might not be a spent force after all and Mufti might emerge as the kingmaker in case of a hung house.
Mehbooba Mufti, who joined politics in 1996, along with her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, was instrumental in making the PDP a regional political force that not only took on the National Conference but ousted the oldest political party of the region from power within four years of its formation.
From winning 16 seats in 2002, the PDP grew to 21 MLAs in 2008 and 28 in 2014 assembly elections.
Mehbooba Mufti has been an MLA four times, winning the general elections in 1996, 2002, 2008 and bypolls in 2016.
She was elected to Lok Sabha in the 2004 and 2014 elections.
While most people would credit the shrewd politician Mufti Mohammad Sayeed for the rise of the PDP, the inner core of the party considered Mehbooba Mufti the driving force behind the party.
A large number of mid-rung leaders and aspiring politicians joined the PDP even when the party was out of power between 2008 and 2014.
However, the downward slide started as soon as the PDP-BJP government fell in June 2018.
The leaders, who had made a beeline to join Mehbooba Mufti’s party before 2014, jumped ship within days of the BJP pulling the plug on the coalition.
Several leaders, who left the party, accused the PDP president of functioning in an autocratic manner.
While many people have left the party even ahead of the assembly elections, Iltija and PDP youth president Waheed Para have emerged as the next generation leaders under her tutelage.
With the emergence of new regional parties like People’s Conference and Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), the space for PDP seems to be shrinking.
