Srinagar, Mar 17 (IANS): Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday called her party workers the "real Mujahideen" (real holy warriors).

Addressing PDP workers at the TRC ground in north Kashmir's Kupwara district, Mufti said, "You don't hold stones or guns in your hands and yet you have provided relief to the people like no one could in the past 70 years. You are the real Mujahideen (holy warriors)."

Former J&K Chief Minister has been touring areas in the south and north of the Valley to refurbish her party's image that took a serious beating after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulled out of the PDP-BJP ruling coalition in June last year.

"I would not have joined hands with the BJP, if my own people hadn't betrayed me. This is a fact the people already know," she said.

Though some of her colleagues and legislators have left the PDP, Mufti has been trying to rebuild her party's connect with the Kashmiris that remained snapped during the period she and her late father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed ruled the state in coalition with the right wing BJP.