Srinagar: Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi signed his resignation from the Lok Sabha on a stage in Budgam on Tuesday and told the crowd that the chair mattered less than the promise he had campaigned on.
The Srinagar MP's letter is addressed to Speaker Om Birla and cites Article 101(3)(b) of the Constitution and Rule 240 of the Lok Sabha's rules of procedure. He quit the National Conference in the same speech, closing a 24-year association that took him to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly three times from Budgam before he won the Srinagar seat in 2024 by roughly 1.88 lakh votes.
He picked the 26th death anniversary of his father, Aga Syed Mehdi, and Behishti Zehra Park for the announcement. Thousands attended.
His charge sheet against his own party is specific. Ruhullah accused Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and party president Farooq Abdullah of walking away from the 2024 assembly manifesto: restoration of Article 370, one lakh jobs, a balanced reservation policy, 200 units of free electricity and 12 free LPG cylinders a year. He said Omar campaigned on Article 370 and, once in office, narrowed the fight to statehood. He called the Chief Minister "incompetent".
He also alleged the party had wanted him to contest from Baramulla because of its Shia voters. "This was the level to which politics had been reduced, where voters were being viewed through religion," he said.
Ruhullah said he is not joining another party. His plan, he said, is to gather what he described as honest and committed young people from Jammu and Kashmir on one platform before announcing anything.
The timing stings. On Monday, 25 disgruntled NC legislators handed the leadership a 14-day ultimatum, threatening to withdraw support unless every sitting minister is removed and the Chief Minister's adviser dismissed. BJP leader Ravinder Raina said the resignation had "sent alarm bells ringing" in the National Conference.
The Srinagar seat falls vacant only after the Speaker accepts the resignation. A by-election follows.