64 J&K leaders resign as Azad set to launch party

Days after the resignation of veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad from Congress, as many as 64 senior leaders in the state, including former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, on Tuesday quit the party. The leaders say they have resigned in support of Azad.

In another development, in an indication of Azad’s political stock even as he has resigned from Congress, three party leaders who are members of Group of 23 met him at his residence in the national capital.

The leaders who met Azad were former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda, former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan and former union minister Anand Sharma.

Azad has said that he will launch a new party soon and the first unit will be formed in Jammu and Kashmir in view of impending assembly polls. Azad was Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008. Azad’s decision to form a political party holds importance as the Valley is likely to go to polls later this year.

Earlier, ex-Congress leader Salman Nizami had announced, “Under the leadership of Azad Ji we will launch a national party and the work will begin from Jammu and Kashmir. Azad Ji will go to J&K and will form an alliance with like-minded parties and leaders. All the criticism coming Azad Ji’s way will be answered by winning elections,”

Azad will also hold a public meeting on 4 September at Sainik Colony in Jammu. This will be his first meeting since he snapped his nearly 50-year-long association with Congress. The public meeting is scheduled for 11 am. With Azad signalling that he will float a new party, several leaders have resigned from the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir.