HUGE SETBACK for Congress, over 50 J&K leaders quit party in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad

Tara Chand and several others, including former ministers Abdul Majid Wani, Manohar Lal Sharma, Gharu Ram and former MLA Balwan Singh, announced their resignations from their party, including its primary membership, at a press conference, in support of Azad.

Jammu: In a big setback for the Congress, more than 50 senior Congress leaders, including former Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister Tara Chand, resigned from the party in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad here on Tuesday.

According to sources, they have submitted a joint resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Chand and several others, including former ministers Abdul Majid Wani, Manohar Lal Sharma, Gharu Ram and former MLA Balwan Singh, announced their resignations from their party, including its primary membership, at a press conference. "We have submitted a joint resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in support of Azad," Balwan Singh said.

Mass resignations in J&K after Azad's exit

Azad, 73, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, ended his five-decade association with the Congress on Friday, terming the party “comprehensively destroyed” and lashing out at Rahul Gandhi for “demolishing” its entire consultative mechanism. The veteran J&K leader also said that he will soon launch a national-level party from Jammu and Kashmir.

After his announcement, more than a dozen prominent Congress leaders, including former ministers and legislators, besides hundreds of Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members, municipal corporators and district and block level leaders have already left the Congress to join Azad.

Rahul responsible for Congress' decline: Azad

In his five-page letter to Sonia Gandhi, Azad alleged that Rahul Gandhi does not have the aptitude or interest in politics. Speaking to reporters at his residence, Azad claimed that the leadership being projected in states is making party members leave instead of uniting them.

He said that the "ailing" Congress needs medicines which are being provided by compounders instead of doctors. Azad claimed its foundation has turned very weak and the organisation can fall anytime but the Congress leadership doesn't have the time to set things right.

Asserting that he belonged to the Congress ideology and never wanted to quit the organisation with which he grew from his student days, Azad claimed that he was "forced out" of the party. He stressed that he will not join the BJP as it will not help his politics in Jammu and Kashmir. The former Congress leader said that he would soon set up a new party in Jammu and Kashmir as the assembly elections could be announced anytime.

The Congress, however, hit back at Ghulam Nabi Azad, accusing him of justifying treachery and unleashing a slander campaign. "After such a long career, courtesy entirely the party he`s been tasked to slander, by giving interviews indiscriminately, Azad diminishes himself further. What`s he afraid of that he`s justifying his treachery every minute? He can be easily exposed but why stoop to his level?", Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet.