Monday, September 4 2006 11:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: After quitting the post of Deputy Chief Minister, PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig said tonight the perceived antipathy of his party leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed towards him was due to 'communication gap' and 'misunderstanding' created deliberately by 'certain elements' in the party.

He told sources over phone from Srinagar that he respected Sayeed's decision seeking change of his portfolio in the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Congress-PDP Coalition and had no ill-will against the party leader.

"Mufti sahab had called me to talk to me but nobody gave me the message. This led Mufti sahab to believe that I was arrogant and was playing the Congress card, which is not true," Baig said soon after submitting his resignation letter to the Chief Minister and sending its copy to Sayeed.



Emphasising that there is a lot of goodwill between him and Sayeed, he said there was a misunderstanding due to communication gap and this was created deliberately by certain elements, both in the party and their staff.

The lawyer-turned-politician has been the closest associate of Sayeed since he launched PDP in 1997. But on Thursday, PDP removed him as its leader of Legislature Party and asked the Chief Minister to drop him from his Cabinet as Deputy Chief Minister.

Baig said he had not on his own called up or met Mufti Sayeed after the controversy started as he respected the party leader's decision to change his portfolio.

"I thought if I call him or meet him, it would give an impression that I want restoration of the portfolio which I did not want," Baig said, adding the two leaders will meet in the coming days.