PDP to launch membership drive in J

Srinagar, Aug 25: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a ruling coalition partner in Jammu and Kashmir, will launch a state-wide membership drive next week to widen and consolidate its base, a party spokesman said today.

He said PDP President Mehbooba Mufti would launch the membership drive here on August 31. All the ministers, legislators and party cadres would be present on the occasion.

Similarly, the spokesman said the drive in the Jammu region would be launched in the first week of September.

The PDP leadership has asked its cadres to gear up for the massive exercise so that the party's programmes and policies were disseminated at the grassroots levels across the state, he added.

The spokesman said the PDP expected massive response to the drive given the impact it has made on the political, administrative and development fronts across the state during the party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's tenure as the Chief Minister.

The party had recently established units in Kargil district and would soon expand its base in the Ladakh region, he added.

The PDP was launched as regional party on July 28, 1999 and in a short span on 7 years, the spokesman said it has grown as a strong political force in the state.

The party secured 16 seats in the October 2002 state Assembly elections and headed the coalition government from 2002 to 2005.

At present, the PDP has 24 legislators in both the houses of the legislature with 17 in the Assembly and seven in the Council.

UNI