Rafi Mir nominated to LC

KT NEWS SERVICE SRINAGAR, Apr 2: PDP leader Rafi Ahmad Mir has been nominated as a member of the legislative council.

His belated nomination removed yet another irritant in the working relations between major coalition partners Congress and PDP.

Almost a one year old case of Mir's nomination was hanging fire because Governor Lt Gen S K Sinha had rejected the chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's recommendation.

The feeling in the PDP was that the chief minister was not pursuing the matter with seriousness and urgency.

It may be recalled that the Governor had returned the nomination proposal on the grounds that Mir was not eligible to fill the nominated seat as he lacked "social service background." Interestingly, the Governor had earlier okayed the nomination of another PDP leader Mohammad Sultan Panditpuri in the same category.

Panditpuri and Mir are both politicians and the latter has better credentials.

Mir contested the Pahalgam assembly bye-elections as National Conference (NC) candidate against the PDP patron and the then chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and obtained 4,000 votes.

Mir has represented Pahalgam assembly constituency in late 80s when Dr Farooq Abdullah was the chief minister.

After joining PDP, Mir has taken over the party's campaigning work in south Kashmir, particularly in Mufti's Pahalgam constituency.

Mir's departure from NC had dealt a severe blow to the main opposition party as he is one of the prominent political figures from South Kashmir.