PDP backs INDIA bloc, emphasises constitutional protection

Rajouri/Jammu: Despite fielding her party’s candidates against the National Conference on three Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said her party continues to be a part of INDIA bloc on ideological basis and agrees with it on the need to safeguard the Constitution.

The NC, also a part of the INDIA bloc, has put up three candidates on Srinagar, Baramulla, and Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seats after reaching an agreement with the Congress, which has put up its candidates in Jammu, Udhampur, and Ladakh.

The PDP, however, was not given any seat and the party subsequently decided to fight elections against NC on the valley seat, while extending its support to Congress in the Jammu region.

Mehbooba herself is in the fray from the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat which is going to polls in the sixth phase on May 25. She is likely to get a stiff fight from NC former minister and influential Gujjar leader Mian Altaf and Apni Party’s Zafar Iqbal Khan Manhas, who is backed by BJP.

The PDP president said she supports INDIA alliance on ideological basis as Rahul Gandhi is the only leader who is working to safeguard the Constitution.

“The Constitution is the foundation of our country and we need (to protect) it desperately as otherwise no rights will be left with us. They (BJP) not only want to change the Constitution but also finish the reservation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, notwithstanding what they are saying,” Mehbooba said.