SRINAGAR (TIP): In the first major fallout of over two-month-long unrest in the Kashmir valley that has left over 80 persons dead, PDP’s founding member Tariq Hameed Karra resigned from the party and membership of Parliament on September 15.

He accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) headed by CM Mehbooba Mufti of “becoming a collaborator for the fascist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-governed BJP and termed it an “unnatural alliance”.

“Though I was all along feeling suffocated due to PDP’s alliance with the RSS-backed BJP, my conscience was shaken over the last two months, especially due to PDP’s newly acquired avatar during the present upheaval,” Tariq Karra told reporters.

“Taking a call of conscience and as a mark of protest against the brutal policies of the BJP at the Centre and the state government’s complete sellout and surrender before them, I have decided to disassociate myself from the primary membership of the party and from the membership of Parliament,” he said.

Karra said his resignation was also in protest against “wanton killings and treating people worse than Nazi forces”. “Every single day Kashmiris are being butchered… Kashmiri blood is being spilled onto walls, in lanes and drains of the Valley. For the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, people were not allowed to offer Eid prayers. Grand mosques and shrines were locked. My apprehension that the PDP’s facilitated RSS-backed BJP will impose religious ingression stands vindicated today,” he said. “The PDP is losing its character and they are doing exactly what they opposed since the party formation,” he said. The MP, who was elected from Srinagar in 2014, said he would be forwarding the resignation to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Karra’s quitting the party is a major setback for the PDP, which has been facing sharp criticism over its handling of the situation in the state. The 61-year-old MP, known as PDP’s face in Srinagar, has been openly airing his views against the PDP-BJP alliance.

Karra is the second politician to resign after the unrest erupted. He also asked other lawmakers to decide about their future course of action as per their conscience.