Altaf Bukhari expelled from basic membership of PDP for anti-party activities

People's Democratic Party (PDP) Saturday expelled businessman-turned-politician and former minister Altaf Bukhari from the party for anti-party activities. "Party today expelled Altaf Bukhari from the party for his anti-party activities," the party said in a tweet.

The PDP said the party had been watching Bukhari's activities for some time and has expelled him from the basic membership of the party. "Party has been watching with concern the activities of Altaf Bukhari for quite some time and thereby (he) stands expelled from the basic membership of the party," the party headed by former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, said on Twitter.

Bukhari won his maiden assembly election from Amira Kadal in 2014 and was a minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. He was, however, dropped from the cabinet by Mehbooba when she took over after Sayeed's death in 2016. Bukhari was then made minister for Education in February 2017 and went on to become the finance minister of the state after Haseeb Drabu was expelled from the cabinet following his controversial remarks on Kashmir.