Former DDC chairperson joins Farooq Abdullah’s NC in Srinagar
Srinagar, July 8 (IANS) Former Chairperson of District Development Council Baramulla and the wife of opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) co-founder Muzaffar Hussain Baig, Safina Baig, on Wednesday joined the National Conference (NC) at the party headquarters here.
Safina Baig, who was accompanied by her supporters, joined the party in the presence of NC President Dr Farooq Abdullah, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Minister for Rural Development Javid Ahmad Dar, senior leaders Ali Muhammad Sagar, Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan and others.
Safina’s joining is seen as a shot in the arm for the National Conference in Baramulla district, where the party won 6 out of 7 Assembly seats in the 2024 election.
Her husband, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, who was one of the founders of the PDP, served as Deputy CM in the PDP-Congress coalition when Ghulam Nabi Azad headed the alliance. Muzaffar Baig won the 2002 and 2008 Assembly elections from Baramulla and the 2014 Lok Sabha election from the Baramulla Parliamentary seat.
Muzaffar Hussain Baig, despite having distanced himself from active politics for some time, continues to be an influential leader not only in Baramulla but also in Kashmir.
As a legal luminary who studied at Harvard Law School, Baig was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2020.
Baig’s opinion is highly valued among legal and political circles in the country. He served as Chief Spokesperson for the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party. He also worked at law firms in the US and in Delhi.
Baig served as an Advocate General of the state of J&K from 1987 to 1989. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014 from the Baramulla constituency.
Due to differences between him and Mehbooba Mufti that grew after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, it was rumoured that Baig joined Sajad Lone’s Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference. However, the Peoples Conference disowned senior leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig. Party general secretary Imran Ansari said Baig never joined JKPC.
–IANS
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