New Delhi: Taking a swipe at the Congress, which had insinuated that he was cozying up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he left the party, veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday (September 3, 2022) said that meeting and talking to political rivals "does not change one's DNA". After Azad ended his five-decade-long association with the Congress last month, the party had alleged that his "DNA has been Modi-fied" and several leaders attacked him citing Modi's speech in Rajya Sabha in February last year in which the teary-eyed prime minister had praised the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister as a "true friend".


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"MPs from 22 parties spoke about me (on my farewell) but only what the PM said was highlighted," Azad said during a book release function.


"If you meet people from other political parties and talk to them, it does not change your DNA," he added and lamented that political parties nowadays seem to be "at war".


Referring to Modi's emotional speech, the 73-year-old said that it's a tradition that one-third of members retire from Rajya Sabha every two years and MPs from various parties give speeches on the occasion.


Azad resigned from Congress on August 26 and termed the party "comprehensively destroyed". In his five-page resignation letter to Congress interim resident Sonia Gandhi, Azad also lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for "demolishing" the party's entire consultative mechanism.


Ghulam Nabi Azad to hold first public rally in Jammu since leaving Congress


Ghulam Nabi Azad is now all set to begin his fresh political journey from Jammu where he would set up the first unit of his own party on Sunday. He is likely to announce the formation of his own political party.


Hoardings and banners welcoming Azad have been put up at the Satwari chowk along the Jammu-Airport road and in the route leading to the venue of the public rally, where seating arrangements for over 20,000 people have been made.


"All those who resigned in support of Azad will be present at the public meeting," GM Saroori, who is among over two dozen prominent legislators who resigned from Congress in support of Azad, said.


He said over 3,000 supporters of Azad, representing different sections of society, have expressed the desire to join hands with him at the public meeting.


He said that people from different political parties are also in touch with them and "we are expecting a tsunami of support in favour of Azad in coming times."


"People have tested Azad during his chief ministership (from November 2005 to July 2008) and are eagerly waiting for his return as the next chief minister," Saroori said.


He also stated that the Azad-led party would be a reality on the political map of Jammu and Kashmir ahead of the next Assembly elections which are likely to be held after the completion of the ongoing process of special summary revision of the electoral rolls on November 25.


(With agency inputs)