Big jolt for J&K CM Omar

Jammu: In a major setback to Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling National Conference (NC), Srinagar Lok Sabha MP and its most prominent Shia face, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, has resigned from the party and Parliament.

The formal announcement was made on the 26th death anniversary of his father, Aga Syed Mehdi, at an emotional gathering in Budgam.

The move ends Ruhullah’s 24-year association with the NC and sets the stage for a byelection in Srinagar once his resignation is accepted by the Lok Sabha Speaker. What he left behind was not just a resignation letter but a four-page political indictment of the party’s leadership.

Accusing the NC of betraying the “anger, emotions and massive mandate” the people gave it in the 2024 assembly polls, Ruhullah said the party did an ‘about turn’ as soon as the electoral battle was over. “I will begin with a note that meshes history with the present of the region that I belong to, Jammu and Kashmir.

Our region and its people bear the burden of history,” he wrote, adding that the weight of history hangs on Kashmir’s past, present and future “like the Damocles Sword”.

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The Hans India