Kupwara, Sep 07: Incarcerated north Kashmir Member of Parliament (MP) Engineer Rashid’s brother will contest the assembly election from the Langate constituency as announced by Awami Ittehad Party (AIP)’s political affairs committee on Saturday.
Khursheed Ahmad Sheikh, who was a government teacher, tendered his resignation in June this year.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Khursheed said that following directions from the party, he tendered his resignation.
“Leaving a government job with 15 more years of guaranteed service was not easy but I took the decision to serve my people,” he said.
On whether people would accept him, Khursheed said that he had been on the ground even before his brother became a legislator for the first time and feels confident that people would come in large to support him.
Responding to the assertions that his brother had always spoken against dynastic politics, he said that if his brother would not have been in jail, he would not have joined politics.
“Since my brother has been in jail for the last five years, I had to take this tough decision unwillingly,” Khursheed said.
He said that AIP was emerging as an alternative and people should come forward and vote in favour of AIP candidates for a prosperous J&K.
Meanwhile, Abdul Majid Banday has been given a mandate to contest the election from Handwara while Firdous Baba will contest from Kupwara.