Setback for NC as senior leader's son joins People's Conference

I want to tell you that the PC has arrived, Sajad Lone said

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ITDC NEWS R Days after two senior leaders from Jammu—Devendra Rana and SS Slathia—left the National Conference (NC) and joined the BJP, the NC suffered another setback on Saturday. Hilal Ahmed Rather, son of senior NC leader and former finance minister Abdul Rahim Rather, joined the People’s Conference (PC) led by Sajad Lone in Srinagar.

Referring to Rather as his younger brother, Lone had said a few years ago that he had asked him when he was joining the PC. “Today my younger son has joined our caravan,’’ he said. “I want to tell you that the PC has arrived.”

He said there are many soothsayers who refuse to see the reality as it exists because of an old mindset and want to create reality as they see it. “I want to tell those delusional people we have come and we have arrived and inshallah we will conquer.”

Rather is currently on bail for his alleged involvement in misappropriation of crores of rupees from the term loans sanctioned by J&K Bank for his ambitious township project known as Paradise Avenue at Narwal Bala, Jammu in 2012.

Rather said he respects his father and is proud of him but joining the PC is his own decision. “Right from my early days, my father has been magnanimous and always told me that I should take my own decisions,’’ he said. “Today I have also made my own decision. I have not consulted him, I respect where he is.”