Three MLAs of the Peoples Democratic Party have blamed former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for last month’s collapse of the Jammu and Kashmir government, which the party ran in coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party, The Times of India reported on Monday.

Former minister Imran Raza Ansari said the Peoples Democratic Party had been “hijacked by vested interests” and that he was planning to quit the party. “She [Mufti] chose her cronies over elected members to run the party and the government,” he told The Indian Express. His remarks came a day after his uncle Abid Hussain Ansari, also an MLA, accused Mufti of running the party like a “family fiefdom”.

Gulmarg MLA Muhammad Abbas also said he would follow in the footsteps of Imran Raza Ansari, KNS news agency reported.

Imran Raza Ansari claimed that Mufti’s “incompetence” led to the government’s collapse. “Mehbooba not only failed the PDP, but also knocked down the hopes and the dreams of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed,” he told The Times of India. He said it was because of their coalition partner BJP that a huge chunk of money was released by the Centre for various developmental activities in the state.

Mufti rules out PDP-Congress alliance

Meanwhile, Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said she was amused by speculation that her party was seeking to ally with the Congress to form a new government. She called the reports an “example of fake news”.

“Amused at media speculations about a possible PDP-INC alliance to form the government in J&K,” Mufti wrote on Twitter. “Conjecture also includes an impending meeting between [chairperson of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance] Soniaji and I. This is utter fabrication.”

Congress leaders Ghulam Ahmed Mir and Ghulam Nabi Azad have also ruled out supporting the Peoples Democratic Party to form the government in the state.

The state is under Governor’s Rule and the Assembly in suspended animation after the BJP withdrew from the ruling coalition. The government was led by the Peoples Democratic Party, which has 28 seats in the 87-member Assembly. The BJP has 25 seats, the National Conference has 15, and the Congress has 12 seats in the state Assembly.