Ahead of the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the Apni Party suffered a major setback as senior leader Junaid Azim Mattu resigned from the party on Wednesday. Mattu announced his resignation through a post on X. His surprising resignation comes days after the party announced his candidature from Zadibal assembly constituency.
In a post on X, Mattu said, "It is with a heavy heart, and with all humility at my command, that I announce my decision to part ways with the J&K Apni Party." He said that he had come up with the decision after extensive consultation with his supporters. He said, "During my Hajj pilgrimage earlier this year, I had taken a solemn pledge to uphold my conviction and do a politics guided by my own principles and a sense of discerning the right from the wrong. Primarily underscored by this solemn pledge and based also on extensive consultations with my workers and supporters over the last five days, I have reached this decision."
'My convictions, not congruent with party ideology': Mattu
Providing a reason for his resignation, Mattu said that his convictions were not congruent with the party. Mattu said, "My own convictions are no longer congruent or symmetrical with the ideology of the party and in this situation — to still remain associated with the party or to contest elections as a party candidate would be outrightly disingenuous. My party is now at a complete liberty to field an appropriate candidate from Zadibal in my place." Regarding his plans ahead, Mattu said that he would address the media in a couple of days.
Former MLA resigns from Apni Party
Earlier on August 23, another senior party leader Abdul Rahim Rather, former MLA and District President of Apni Party in Anantnag, tendered his resignation from the primary membership of the party. Citing reasons behind the decision, he said the manifesto of the party was not to his liking and created problem to carry it before the people voting for him. “I am not comfortable showing this manifesto to the people, so I will not contest the assembly elections on the Apni Party ticket,” he said.
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