New Delhi: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, in an interview to NDTV, said that she will not contest any election until the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 has been restored.The decision has been made public in response to a question as to who would become the chief ministerial candidate if state assembly polls were to be held as her party is a constituent of the Gupkar Alliance along with its political rival, National Conference.“We have been rivals, but for the larger cause of Jammu and Kashmir we can all get together. We are Kashmiris at the end of the day. We are not talking only about elections but for the larger cause of restoring what was lost,” Mufti said in the interview.She added that whenever state polls are held, a discussion would be held regarding the chief ministership. She made it amply clear that she will not be in the race.Also read: J&K DDC Polls: Gupkar Alliance Wins 110 Seats, BJP Emerges as Single Largest Party With 74 SeatsOn the Gupkar Alliance’s resounding victory in the district development council (DDC) polls, she has said that the people of Kashmir have rejected the narrative of the BJP, as she equated the local body polls to a referendum on scrapping of Article 370. While the seven-party alliance has won in 13 districts, the BJP has bagged six districts in Jammu.“This is like a referendum on the scrapping of Article 370, and the BJP themselves kept harping on the subject during campaigning. So, the result shows that the people of J&K have rejected that narrative. They have thereby rejected scrapping of Article 370,” she added.The DDC polls are the first election held in the region after Article 370 was scrapped by the Union government in August 2019, and has since seen the detention of political leaders in the region, including Mufti. The elections were held in seven phases across 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir union territory.The PDP chief said that there were many detentions during the election campaign for the DDC polls and she added that she was told categorically by the authorities not to move out of her detention until voting started.She lamented that the constitution is being replaced by the BJP agenda not just in Kashmir but across India.“I may be arrested anytime… There is a silence of graveyards here. They have terrorised everyone into silence. What is happening in the country, multiply it by 100. That is what is happening in Kashmir,” she has added.Responding to a question on the PDP alliance government with the BJP, she said that her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, had tried to engage with the BJP only to resolve the problems of Kashmir, and defended the alliance.“My father made a deal with the devil. Mufti did not join hands with (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi but with the Prime Minister of India, to resolve the problems of Kashmir. My father tried to engage the BJP through an alliance. Our agenda was the same and we entered into the alliance on our terms. They agreed to everything, but after the government fell, they did what they wanted,” she recalled.