Within minutes after former Congress leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad charged some political parties with misleading people in the name of restoring Article 370, Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti hit back at the ex-Chief Minister for "diluting" his stand on this issue.
Mincing no words in attacking Azad for abandoning the demand of restoring Article 370, Mehbooba compared the former Congress leader with BJP.
"Azad Sahib and BJP have their views on Article 370 but our agenda is very much clear, we will continue our struggle for restoring the pre-August 5, 2019 situation in J&K", she said.
"We will not succumb to the pressure tactics of BJP and will intensify our struggle to solve vexed Kashmir issue and also to restore Article 370", Mehbooba told media persons at Jammu after attending a meeting of some prominent citizens.
"BJP was claiming that with the abrogation of Article 370, Kashmir problem would be solved automatically", she reminded but hastened to add that situated has been further complicated after scrapping of the Article.
In an obvious reference to the statement of Azad who ruled out restoration of Article 370 in the present scenario, Mehbooba said that struggle will be continued for getting back to the pre-August 5, 2019 situation.
J&K stands at crossroads today
Lambasting the present administration for compounding issues of general masses, Mehbooba said that Jammu and Kashmir today stands at crossroads where citizens have neither any right nor a forum to project their grievances.
"While the public anger is simmering, the administration is busy showcasing its phoney achievements to justify what ruling BJP has done with J&K", she said.
Talking to a deputation of Kashmiri migrant employees, the former Chief Minister said that while on one hand the BJP and its run administration was weaponizing the pain of suffering of the community to garner support for its political objectives, their issues and grievances are being ignored.
"Unfortunately, the community faced one of the worst times after migration during the last few years right under the rule of those who criminalized their sufferings and politicized their pain in furtherance of their own communal agenda", she said.
Azad blamed political parties for misleading people
Earlier Ghulam Nabi Azad admitted that restoring Article 370 in the present political scenario was not possible.
He accused some political parties of misleading people in the name of restoring Article 370. He argued that only a government with a two-thirds majority in Parliament can ensure the restoration of this article.
In a veiled attack on PDP and Apni Party, Azad said "Some people have been saying that I don't talk about Article 370. I want to tell them that Azad does not befool people for electoral gains".
