Late PDP leader keeps family intact, hands over Shia association to son, Pattan seat to brother Death of Iftikhar Ansari creates void Fazal Khan SRINAGAR, Oct 2: Death of senior People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Moulana Iftikhar Hussain Ansari has created a major void in the party. Late Ansari was an influential Shia leader and had mass following across Kashmir. The late leader had played a pivotal role in ensuring PDPs win from all the three Parliamentary seats in Kashmir earlier this year. During the past decade he worked very hard to ensure that PDP emerges as an alternative for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and they have choice to opt between NC and another regional party. Ansari and other top leaders of the party, including the party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and the PDP President Mehbooba Mufti, working overtime to reach out to the people paid dividends in the Parliamentary polls as NC lost its address in Kashmir. PDP is hopeful of repeating its performance in the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state as it had won 41 Assembly segments out of 87 in the Parliamentary elections, which ended 10-year Congress rule in India. The Assembly elections which were slated to be held in Jammu and Kashmir later this year are all set to be postponed in wake of the massive floods which hit the state in first week of September. A senior PDP leader while talking to Early Times said, Moulana Sahib cannot be replaced. He had a tall stature and massive following. His death has created a void which cannot be filled. Pertinently, PDP had given mandate to late leaders son, Imran Ansari, from Zadibal constituency for the forthcoming Assembly elections. Due to his ailing health, Moulvi Sahib had suggested that mandate from Pattan Assembly constituency in north Kashmir should be given to his brother Abid Ansari, as Pattan has always been the bastion of Ansari family, said a PDP leader. He said that the late leader prior to his death had taken certain decisions to keep his family intact like his son, Imran Ansari, would head the Shia Association, while his brother would contest from his Pattan seat. Moulvi Sahib was a great visionary, the leader added. He said that party leadership has kept all the options open for the Ansari family and it would be their decision about who would contest from where. A political analyst while talking to Early Times said, Good work done by the late leader will definitely help his son and brother in coming elections as sympathy wave will also favour them. Pertinently, a sea of people from different parts of Kashmir had participated in the last rites of Moulana Iftikhar Ansari. Huge participation of people in the funeral prayers of the late leader was a glimpse of his popularity and the mass following he enjoyed, the analyst added. Late Moulana Iftikhar Anasri was born in 1942 and had joined active politics in 1969. He joined PDP in 2004 and remained affiliated with the party till his last breath.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 05:06:39 +0000
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