Decision to drop me a susprise: PDP’s Drabu

Srinagar: Senior PDP leader Haseeb Drabu said on Tuesday that J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s decision to sack him as the state’s finance minister came as a surprise to him and added the manner in which he was informed about it was shocking. Mr Drabu said that he got no chance to explain his side and learnt the party’s decision through the media. The senior leader, however, added that he bore no ill will against anyone. “The decision to drop me did come as a surprise but what was shocking was the manner and method of communicating it,” Mr Drabu, seen as the architect of the ruling PDP-BJP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir, said in a statement.

Mr Drabu, the co-author of Agenda of Alliance between the two parties, was dropped from the council of ministers yesterday following his remarks that Kashmir was not a political issue. The former finance minister said he understood and accepted the party’s decision to drop him but it was painful that it was through media that he came to know about. “While I understand and accept the decision of the party, to talk to media before talking to me, was painful. I was not accorded the opportunity to explain the context and the content of my speech,” he said. 

Mr Drabu, who was considered close to the BJP leadership, expressed gratitude to chief minister Mufti for giving him the opportunity to contribute towards accomplishing the PDP mission. He said the “unflinching confidence” that Mufti (Mohammad Sayeed) always reposed in him and the relationship of trust that “we shared, is my source of strength” to endure this situation.