Altaf Bukhari

Some Lesser Known Facts About Altaf Bukhari

• After completing his graduation in 1980, Altaf Bukhari joined his family business. He later took over the business from his father and expanded the pesticide business to other states in India.

• Later, he worked as a member of the Management Board of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Jammu.

• According to various reports, at the age of 24, Altaf Bukhari was involved in the ousting of Farooq Abdullah’s government in 1984 after which Farooq Abdullah was replaced by his brother-in-law, Ghulam Mohammad Shah as the new chief minister.

• Many media houses claimed that Bukhari worked as a mediator between Indira Gandhi’s government and the 13 rebel MLAs, who left the National Conference and formed a new political party known as the Awami National Conference. Later, when he was asked about the incident, he said that he was just a 24-year-old boy who was exploited by others.

• After a decade, he took over a food processing company which was already started by his father. The company holds the distinction of being the only private company in apple processing with a German collaboration.

• In 2004, he introduced controlled atmosphere storage (CAS) in Kashmir and helped the Container Corporation of India in creating a 12,000-tonne CAS facility in Haryana.

• In 2014, during the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Elections, he was declared to be the richest candidate as he declared his assets to be worth Rs 82 crores.

• In June 2018, after the dissolving of the BJP-PDP government in Jammu and Kashmir,  Bukhari became a common name for the position of the chief minister of the state. He was backed by the PDP, the Congress, and the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference in November 2018.

• He has held various positions including a member of the Board of Directors of the National Horticulture Board and on the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

• According to Altaf, he never aspired to join politics; however, after the next generation of his family took over the responsibilities of the family business, he decided to step back and at the same time give back to society.

• Later, he became a politician as he believed politics to be the best way to give back to and serve people.

• He considers his association with politics to be “incidental as well as accidental.”

• In January 2019, he was expelled from the People’s Democratic Party as he was accused of being involved in Anti-Party activities.

• In March 2020, Altaf Bukhari founded The Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) along with thirty-one former members of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, and Indian National Congress.

  

• The party also included former members of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly and cabinet ministers in the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.

• He was appointed as the party’s first president and was also named as its founding president.

• In April 2023, Bukhari was provided with Z+ security by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jammu and Kashmir Police.