Ghulam Nabi Azad may launch a party in Jammu and Kashmir, his home turf.
- Azad may be preparing to launch a party in Jammu and Kashmir after resigning from the Congress party.
- 7 former Jammu and Kashmir legislators, former ministers, quit in solidarity with Azad.
Sources claim that Azad may be preparing to launch a party in Jammu and Kashmir, his home state. 7 former Jammu and Kashmir legislators, former ministers, quit the National Congress Party on Friday in solidarity with Azad.
Former ministers Jugal Kishore Sharma, Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, Haji Abdul Rashid and R S Chib resigned alongside former legislators Gulzar Ahmad Wani, Mohammad Amin Bhatt and Chaudhary Mohammad Akram. Party spokesperson Salman Nizami along with Youth Congress leader Sushain Dubey and Bishan Magotra also resigned from their positions.
Hinting at the formation of a new party, Azad mentioned in his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi that, “Some of my other colleagues and I will now work hard to perpetuate the ideals we have dedicated our entire lives to outside the Congress.”
During Azad’s farewell session in Rajya Sabha in February 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had brought up an episode of a terror attack in 2007, Jammu and Kashmir. Modi was then chief minister of Gujarat and Azad was at the helm in Jammu & Kashmir.
“I will never forget Azad’s and Pranab Mukherjee’s efforts when people from Gujarat were stuck in Kashmir due to the terror attack. That night, Ghulam Nabi Ji called me…,” he said, calling Azad a true friend. He said: “I will not let you retire and will continue to take your advice. My doors are always open for you.”
Reacting to the exodus, National Conference’s Omar Abdullah stated it was “sad” and “scary” to see the party “implode”. “Rumored to be in the offing but a body blow to Congress nonetheless. Perhaps the senior-most leader to resign in recent times, his letter makes for very painful reading,” he had tweeted.
Six leaders from the UT quit Congress as well along with Azad on Friday. The Jammu & Kashmir leaders of Congress who resigned from their posts and their membership of the party, as per an unverified letter spread on social media included Abdul Rashid, Muhammad Amin Bhat, G M Saroori, Gulzar Ahmad Wani and Choudhary Muhammad Akram.
The 5 were Azad’s colleagues in Jammu & Kashmir and ministers and legislators. Another former minister of Congress, R S Chib, from Jammu division informed about his resignation through a letter to the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi circulated on social media.
“The Congress party has slowed its momentum in contributing towards the future of my state. Keeping in view the turmoil that the state has witnessed over the past decades, the people require a decisive leader like Ghulam Nabi Azad to propel them towards a better future,” Chib stated in his resignation letter.
Some of Azad’s other colleagues in Congress in J&K slammed his decision and called it ‘opportunistic and backstabbing.’ “For the last two years Congress was telling Azad that the party had invested in him for 40 years and that the time has come to represent the oppressed people of J&K. It was time to give back to the party but he fled,” said Ghulam Ahmad Mir, senior Congress leader and former president of the J&K Projects Construction Corporation.
Mir had said that Azad and some others wished to continue as ‘Rajya Sabha members and receive protocol and freebies.’ “Perhaps he has a pending offer from somewhere else to revive the protocol, we have a lot of clues pointing in that direction in the previous 2 years,” he said.
Another colleague of Azad and former union minister, Saifuddin Soz said that he shouldn’t have resigned from the party. “Azad sahib will not get the respect and position anywhere else like what he did within the Congress,” he said.
