Tassaduq Mufti resigns as coordinator of J&K CM’s grievance cell

New Delhi: Tassaduq Hussain Mufti, a former Bollywood cinematographer of Omkara fame, on Friday resigned from the post of Co-ordinator J&K Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell in the run up to his probable induction into the Council of Minister led by his sister Mehbooba Mufti.

“I hereby submit my resignation from the post of Coordinator J&K Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell with immediate effect’, Mufti’s letter sent to J&K’s Chief Secretary read.

The move comes after the PDP-BJP government initiated the process of nominating Mr Mufti as a member of the J&K Legislative Council.

Mr Mufti is likely to be made a minister in the State government. Most probably, a PDP member in the present Council of Minister will be asked to quit make way for the Chief Minister’s brother.

46-year-old Mufti formally joined the ruling PDP on January 7 this year to “bring peace and prosperity to the State” and ensure “common people and VIPs walk together.” He had told a party rally here, “I’m joining the PDP not because being the son of late Mufti Sahib but only after I’m convinced and inspired by the amount of work the PDP has done for Jammu and Kashmir and its people.” He is an American Film Institute graduate and has lensed Bollywood blockbusters like Omkara and Kaminey.

He had during the lifetime of his father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed repeatedly said that he is not interested in politics. His mother Gulshan Nazir Ara when asked about it had in an interview said, “Wherever he is, he should be happy.” The PDP was launched by Sayeed and his daughter Ms. Mufti in 1999 after quitting Congress party. The PDP cobbled together a coalition government with ideologically divergent BJP in March 2015 at the head of its patron Sayeed who died in a Delhi hospital on January 7.  Ms. Mufti after initial reluctance assumed her father mantle and became the Chief Minister on April 4, 2016.