The National Conference (NC) Tuesday said the imminent decision of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mehbooba Mufti to appoint her brother, Tassaduq Mufti as Adviser to Chief Minister with ministerial status was ‘a laughable development’.

The party spokesman, Junaid Mattu in a statement issued here said that it proved beyond any doubt the existence of two parallel power centers in the PDP and consequently the State Government.

“Tassaduq’s appointment was a backdoor anointment of a runaway candidate from the Islamabad by-poll who is being foisted on the people of the State by the Mufti family,” Matttu added.

“His appointment is more of an anointment from the backdoor when his party failed to contest an election in Islamabad and goes on to prove how Mehbooba Mufti’s own family has lost faith in her and has now deputed Tassaduq Mufti to be a parallel power center in a Government which has reduced itself to a big, fat joke. Here we have a gentleman who has been issuing orders to the State Administration on Whatsapp groups for months and literally ran away in the most disgraceful and cowardly manner from an election he was set to lose by a huge margin. The same gentleman will now be another parallel Chief Minister in a State Government that has at least five different de-facto Chief Ministers, including a few from the Mufti family itself”, he said.

Mattu said that Mehbooba had lost the moral right to continue in her chair as her position was now even questioned and reduced to a mere titular status by her own family. “If Mehbooba Mufti has any self-respect left, she should resign in a dignified manner rather than allowing the institution of the Chief Minister’s Office to be mocked and belittled in this unprecedented fashion,” NC spokesperson added.

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