Separatist-turned-politician Sajad Lone's Peoples Conference got a shot in the arm after seven prominent persons, including a former legislator, joined the party in Jammu on Sunday.
Former MLA Zanskar Syed Mohammad Baqir Rizvi, former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesperson Abhijeet Jasrotia, lawyers Abrar Ahmad Khan and Irfan Inqlabi, Parshotam Kumar, Ashish Pandita and Nitin Jamwal joined the Peoples Conference in presence of Mr Lone and senior leader Imran Reza Ansari.
This was the first such joining for the Peoples Conference in the Jammu region.
Welcoming the new entrants, Mr Lone said it was the party's endeavour was to reach every nook and corner of Jammu and Kashmir to emerge as an alternative to the "two-family rule" in the state.
Mr Ansari said Peoples Conference was rapidly emerging as an alternative of constructive politics and would fight the traditional system of "tyranny, corruption and monopoly" in all three regions of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr Rizvi had won the 2014 Assembly polls as an Independent from Zanskar constituency of Ladakh region and later became part of the PDP-BJP government. He was appointed as a minister as well as the vice-chairman of the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board.
He was, however, removed from the post last April.
Although no reason was given for Mr Rizvi's sacking, sources had said that he was removed for ditching PDP in support of the BJP during the Legislative Council elections a day earlier.
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