Crisis deepens in PDP: Laway refuses to accept expulsion order

Srinagar, Nov 2: Crisis has deepened in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after Rajya Sabha member Nazir Ahmad Laway refused to accept his expulsion order. 

On Friday, PDP expelled Laway for “anti-party activities” after he attended the swearing-in ceremony of Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu on Thursday.

Unfazed by the expulsion, Laway questioned the authority of the leaders who signed the decree.

“Our party president Mehbooba Mufti is behind bars since August 4. I don’t know who issued the order for my expulsion. I am a worker of PDP. I don’t take the spokesperson, who issued the statement, seriously. Let them first clarify who expelled me from the party,” he told The Kashmir Monitor.  

Laway also tried to play down the controversy over his attendance at the swearing-in ceremony. “Nobody spoke to me about this issue. Had the party directed me, I might not have attended the swearing-in ceremony,” he said.

Laway said he continues to be the PDP worker and has no plans to join any political party. “Mufti Mohammad Sayeed made me Member of Parliament. I will take Mufti Sahab’s mission forward. I am still part of the PDP. This spokesperson has no authority to expel me. My father has been a political worker and I won’t be scared by threats of expulsion,” he said.  

The RS MP, who had stirred hornet’s nest when he abstained from voting on Triple Talaq bill, said PDP has failed to carry the mission of Mufti Sahab forward.  “I don’t know what has happened to PDP after Mufti Sahab’s demise. Leaders are being expelled from the party without any reason and justification,” he said.

On August 5, Laway along with PDP MP Mir Mohammed Fayaz had torn a copy of the Constitution in the Rajya Sabha to protest against the abrogation of Article 370 and division of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.

For the last one year, several senior PDP leaders including Imran Raza Ansari, Altaf Bukhari and Abid Ansari were either expelled or they left the party for several reasons.