Srinagar, Nov 14 (IANS): The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday appointed Waheed ur Rehman Parra as legislative party leader in the J&K Assembly and Mehboob Beg as spokesperson.
A party statement said that PDP President, Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday appointed Pulwama MLA Waheed ur Rehman Parra as the leader of the legislative party in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
Mehbooba Mufti made the announcement while chairing a meeting of the PDP where several other important appointments were also made.
"PDP President @MehboobaMufti chaired a crucial meeting in Srinagar today, where key appointments were made to strengthen the party's communication and legislative wings," the PDP said in a post on X.
Accordingly, Mehboob Beg has been nominated as the chief PDP Spokesperson, Rafiq Naik has been named deputy leader of the party, and Mir Fayaz has been made the chief whip.
The PDP has only three MLAs in the J&K legislative assembly. The meeting, which was attended by senior PDP leaders Abdul Rehman Veeri, Mohd Sartaj Madni, Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura, Asiya Naqash, Abdul Haq Khan, Basharat Bukhari and Mohd Khurshid Alam, held detailed discussions on the current political situation in J&K and party affairs.
In the 2014 Assembly elections, the PDP had 28 MLAs and it formed a coalition government with the BJP, headed by PDP founder, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed. After Sayeed’s death, Mehbooba Mufti continued the coalition with the BJP. But, in June 2018, the BJP pulled out of the ruling coalition bringing down the curtains on Mehbooba Mufti’s rule. The state was brought under the governor’s rule and the then Governor, Satya Pal Malik later dissolved the Assembly.
On August 5, 2019, Article 370 was abrogated and J&K state downgraded into two UTs of J&K and Ladakh.
In the 2024 Assembly elections, the NC won 42 seats, the BJP 29, the Congress six, the PDP three, the CPI-M, the Peoples Conference, and the Aam Aadmi Party one seat each, and the Independents 7 seats. The NC formed the government with the support of the Congress, the CPI-M, and six Independents.