Sartaj Madni, uncle of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, resigned today as the Vice President of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Speaking to the media, Mr Madni said he was stepping down from the post in the larger interests of the party.
He said he has already submitted his resignation to PDP President Mehbooba Mufti.
Mr Madni is Mehbooba Mufti's maternal uncle. He was defeated in the 2014 elections from Devsar Assembly constituency in south Kashmir's Kulgam district.
Mr Madni and other leaders have come under scathing attack by party dissidents who allege that the "coterie of close relations have brought the PDP to the present crisis and also cost it power in the state".
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