Separatist leader Syed Salim Gilani on Sunday joined Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and is likely to contest the Assembly election from Srinagar’s downtown Khanyar seat.

The PDP offered him a ticket to contest the Khanyar seat in the Assembly elections.

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Gilani’s Jammu and Kashmir People’s Party was a constituent of the separatist amalgam Hurriyat Conference.

After joining the PDP in the presence of party president Mehbooba Mufti, he said that PDP’s ideology is close to his heart as it talks about the Kashmir issue and people languishing in jails. He said, “I couldn’t see any better platform for me other than the PDP. I was always inspired by the party patron Late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’s vision. He always talked about the resolution of the Kashmir issue. The party is also seeking the release of hundreds of people languishing in jails.”

Asked about his association with the Hurriyat Conference, he said, “I was feeling proud to be there and I’m feeling proud to be with the PDP now. I will carry forward the PDP’s vision as I fit in this ideology only.”

Welcoming Gilani into the party-fold, Mehbooba said that she wanted him to contest an Assembly election but he refused. “He told us to give a chance to someone else,” she said.

Several separatist organisations and religious clerics are jumping into the electoral fray for the Assembly elections in Jammu KashmirKashmir for the first time after 1987.

Banned Jamaat-e-Islami has fielded at least six of its candidates in the fray who are set to contest the assembly polls in south Kashmir.

The first phase of polling will be held on 18 September while the second and third phase will take place on September 25. and October 1. Counting of votes has been rescheduled to October 8 from the initially planned October 4.