Picked as Cong's J&K Panel Head, Ghulam Nabi Azad Quits Within Hours; 2 Others Follow Him

Congress president Sonia Gandhi Tuesday appointed former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad as the party’s campaign committee chief in the union territory but, as per media reports, he declined the offer.

Azad is a prominent member of the G23 grouping within the Congress which has been critical of the leadership and has been seeking an organisational overhaul. Azad, who retired from the Rajya Sabha last year, was not re-nominated to the upper house by the Congress.

As part of a revamp of the organisation in Jammu and Kashmir, Gandhi also appointed Vikar Rasool Wani, considered close to Azad, as the new JK unit chief.

In the new unit, Raman Bhalla was named as the working president of J&K Congress and Azad as champaign committee chief, with former PDP leader Tariq Hamid Karra as vice chief of the campaign panel. Hours after the appointments were made public, Azad declined to accept the offer.

Azad refused to assume the post of campaign committee chairman of Jammu and Kashmir due to health reasons, news agency ANI quoted sources as saying.

However, Congress leader Ashwani Handa of Jammu said Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned from the post as he was not satisfied with the newly constituted campaign committee. “The newly constituted campaign committee has ignored the aspirations of the party’s grassroot workers in J&K. Injustice has been meted out to them. That’s why Ghulam Nabi Azad has resigned as he was unsatisfied with the committee.”

Two more Congress leaders have also resigned from newly formed committees, one being former MLA Gulzar Ahmed Wani also resigned from Pradesh election committee. “I have resigned from Congress coordination committee in J&K as a protest against recent appointment of PCC chief in UT. The decision isn’t in favour of the party,” said Gulzar Ahmad Wani.

Another leader, former MLA Haji Abdul Rashid Dar, said, “We’re unhappy as senior leaders weren’t consulted before taking decision on J&K PCC chief. We’ve resigned from party’s coordination committee as protest against recent announcements of PCC chief. I’ve resigned from Congress’ primary membership.”

The Centre is wanting to hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir soon and the process of finalisation of electoral rolls is underway after the completion of the delimitation exercise. Wani replaces Ghulam Ahmad Mir who had tendered his resignation in July after holding the post for eight years.

Wani (46), a resident of Banihal township of Jammu region’s Ramban district, is a two-time former legislator who also served as a minister during the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference-Congress coalition government between 2009-14. Tariq Hamid Karra will be the vice chairman of the campaign committee, while G M Saroori will be its convenor, according to the statement.

The Congress president appointed president and working president of the J&K unit and also constituted the campaign committee, political affairs committee, coordination committee, manifesto committee, publicity and publication committee, disciplinary committee and pradesh election committee of the UT unit with immediate effect, the statement said.

The campaign committee has named 11 leaders with PCC president and working president its permanent invitees. Mir, Tara Chand, Thakur Balwan Singh, T S Bajwa, Shabir Khan, Neeraj Kundan, Abdul Majeed Wani and Fairoz Khan are also part of the campaign committee.

Gandhi also set up a political affairs committee with Karra as its chairman and it included the likes of Azad, Mir and Saifuddin Soz. The political affairs committee also includes Peerzada M Syed, Taj Mohiuddin, Tara Chand, Mula Ram and Khemlata Wakhlu.

The committee comprises nine leaders with AICC in-charge, PCC president and working president being permanent invitees in the panel. The party also formed an 11-member coordination committee headed by Mir, 12-member manifesto committee under the chairmanship of Soz and nine-member publicity and publication panel led by Mula Ram.

A seven-member disciplinary committee has been formed with Taj Mohiyuddin as the chairman. A Pradesh Election Committee headed by PCC chief has also been set up. The Election Commission had recently revised to November 25 the date of final publication of voters list of Jammu and Kashmir the union territory’s first voters’ list after the boundaries of assembly seats were redrawn in the delimitation exercise.

After the rolls are published, the EC can technically hold assembly polls in the UT. A timeline for the election is yet to be officially declared.

(With agency inputs)

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