J&K’s ex-Dy CM Muzaffar Baig visits Mehbooba Mufti’s residence

Srinagar, Nov 8 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir’s former deputy chief minister Muzaffar Baig on Wednesday visited the residence of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, setting off speculations that he might be seeking a return to the party he cofounded.

However, the PDP president’s daughter Iltija Mufti was quick to nix the speculations, saying that Muzaffar Baig and his wife Safina Baig had come to enquire about the health of her grandmother.

Safina Baig is the chairperson of the Baramulla District Development Council.

Muzaffar Baig Baig, who was a deputy chief minister of the erstwhile state, had co-founded the PDP along with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. However, after Mufti Mohammad Sayeed died in 2016, differences grew between Baig and Mehbooba Mufti and he left the party in 2020.

He was conferred the Padma Bhushan — the country’s third-highest civilian award — the same year.

“Muzaffar Baig sahab and @SafinaMBaig ji were kind enough to call on my grandmother who recently underwent knee surgery. Mischievous statements that I never made were attributed to me… Glad it has been withdrawn,” Iltija Mufti, who is also the media advisor to the PDP president, said in a post on X.