Jammu: PDP has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of making India a superpower was possible if he followed the footsteps of Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had initiated dialogue with Pakistan to resolve issues.
"Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had initiated dialogue with Pakistan to resolve all the outstanding issues. If Modi wants to see India become a superpower in the world, he must follow the footsteps of Vajpayee," PDP patron Mufi Mohamed Sayeed told party workers in Jammu.
Sayeed said PDP leaders had been reluctant to contest elections following the party's formation in 1998, but it was Vajpayee's assurances of free and fair elections that had encouraged them to field candidates for the polls.
"My senior leaders, including my daughter Mehbooba Mufti and Muzaffar Hussain Baig, were reluctant to contest elections as they feared that rigging would take place. But they were encouraged when Atal Bihari Vajpayee made a historic speech in which he promised to conduct free and fair elections in Jammu and Kashmir," Sayeed said.
Mufti said PDP was formed to provide an alternative to the people of Jammu and Kashmir as the voters earlier had no choice but to vote for National Conference.
"There was no alternative for the voters of Jammu and Kashmir. While with Congress, I tried my best to make it an alternative but it did not work. I formed PDP and it emerged as an alternative for the voters of the state who were fed up with National Conference."
"When I sit back to think what have I earned in the last 50 years of my political career, I feel contented that I gave the people of the state an alternative in the form of PDP," Sayeed said.
He said that though the people of the state termed the three years of PDP rule as the golden period in the state history, the voters did not give the party another chance in 2008 Assembly elections.
"Still we got 21 seats and NC got 28, some say they did tactical rigging in Srinagar where people boycott the polls. We respected people's sentiments and sat in opposition for six years," he said.
