Srinagar, Sep 2: Jailed Member Parliament Sheikh Abdul Rashid aka Engineer Rashid led Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) has added a new dimension to the assembly polls in Kashmir.
A flurry of politicians including leaders from various political backgrounds are making a beeline to the party.
Encouraged by the pre-poll response, the party believes that it will recreate the Lok Sabha magic in the assembly polls.
On Monday, ex-MLC and a member of Peoples Conference Yasir Reshi resigned from the party and joined AIP. Before it, noted businessman and former president Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries Shiekh Ashiq also joined the party to contest in the assembly elections.
AIP chief spokesperson Inam Un Nabi told The Kashmir Monitor that many top leaders from other parties are expected to join the party in the coming days.
“Awami Ittehad Party has been accepted by the people as a credible alternative to other parties. Currently, top leaders especially from the two regional parties are approaching us to join the party and contest the elections on AIP mandate. There are some popular faces whose joining is in the pipeline. People will witness AIP as a strong front in this assembly election,” he said.
Nabi said that people and political leaders are empathizing with incarcerated Er Rashid and “joining his mission to form a clean government.”
“The party’s popularity can be gauged by the fact that we were welcomed by people in South Kashmir’s Karimabad yesterday. There is an AIP wave from north to Kashmir and people voluntarily join the party,” he said.
Another AIP leader said that most youth have been joining the party at the district level. “AIP’s success in the parliamentary polls has given a new direction to Kashmiri politics. The fact that so many politicians are now joining the party speaks volumes about our potential in the upcoming elections,” he said.
