Srinagar MP Ruhullah Mehdi Resigns From National Conference Amid Political Tensions

National Conference Srinagar MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi has resigned from both his party and the Lok Sabha following deep differences with party leadership, particularly Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. The 50-year-old leader belongs to the influential Shia family of Budgam district in central Kashmir. The Aga family, along with the Ansaris, has long held religious and political sway in the region across both mainstream and separatist divides.

Family History

The clan's prominence grew under Aga Syed Yousef, who founded the Anjuman Sharie Shian in the 1940s to focus on community education and unity. When Yousef died in 1982, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited Budgam to pay her respects, and his passing sparked a family succession struggle. The family's political engagement expanded when Yousef's grandson Aga Syed Hassan Mosavi joined the separatist Hurriyat Conference in the 1990s. Hassan's brother Aga Syed Mehdi, who is Ruhullah's father, later became the first member of the family to enter mainstream politics. Mehdi was killed in a 2000 militant landmine attack near Magam.

Political Rift

Two years after his father's death, Farooq Abdullah persuaded Ruhullah to join the National Conference, and Ruhullah subsequently won assembly elections in 2002, 2008, and 2014. His rift with the party began after the Centre scrapped Article 370 in August 2019, leading him to quit as the party's chief spokesman in July 2020 over leadership silence. Although the party reconciled with him and he won the 2024 Lok Sabha seat, tensions flared again after the 2024 Assembly polls when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah resigned from the Budgam seat while keeping Ganderbal. Ruhullah refused to support the party's choice of Nasir Aslam Wani for the Budgam bypoll, paving the way for his cousin Aga Muntazir Mehdi to win the seat.

Context

The National Conference is one of the oldest political parties in Jammu and Kashmir, playing a central role in the region's mainstream electoral politics for decades. The departure of an influential leader like Ruhullah Mehdi from an influential family lineage highlights ongoing political realignments within the Valley following the 2019 constitutional changes.