Former minister Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali joins BJP ahead of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls

The Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases from September 18.

Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali, former Jammu and Kashmir minister and PDP leader, joined the BJP on Sunday at the party office in Jammu.

This comes ahead of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls. The elections will be held in three phases from September 18.

Zulfkar Ali met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday amid speculations that he might join the BJP ahead of next month's assembly polls.

Ali, who is an advocate, won from the Darhal assembly constituency of Rajouri district in the 2008 and 2014 assembly elections on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket. He served as a cabinet minister in the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government from 2015 to 2018.

The coalition government collapsed in June 2018 after the national party pulled out of the government. Many PDP leaders led by former minister Altaf Bukhari subsequently founded Apni party in 2020 and Ali was one of its founding members.

(With PTI inputs)