One of the founding members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mohammad Khalil Band, who resigned from the party earlier this week, joined the National Conference (NC) on Sunday. Band, who represented the Pulwama Assembly segment for three terms — 2002, 2008 and 2014 — joined the NC in the presence of party president Farooq Abdullah. Band was a senior leader in the PDP and its district president, before he resigned. In his resignation, which he sent to former Chief Minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, Band said the party’s “compromise on its basic principles” was the reason for him quitting. He added that during her term as CM, Band had felt suffocated. He further wrote that after the demise of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed — two-time Chief Minister — veteran leaders of the party had been sidelined and were kept away from the decision making process.
