Manzoor-ul-Hassan
Srinagar, Aug 20: Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chief and former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has opened channels of communication with the Congress high command and held several “secret talks” with the top leadership, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, over his “Gharwapsi” (return to the grand old party) ahead of assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, sources said.
“Azad has been in touch with Congress’s central leadership since his party’s grim performance in the Lok Sabha polls in J&K and held talks with them. During his talks, he has shown interest in his return to Congress,” sources said.
However, the former J&K chief minister was particular about getting a “top position in Congress respectfully,” about which some senior leaders have strong reservations.
“Azad also wanted that announcement about his joining should come from the central leadership of Congress rather than from him or his party,” a Congress functionary said, wishing anonymity.
Azad left Congress in August 2022 after he resigned from all party positions and quit the primary membership.
In his five-page resignation letter to then-party president Sonia Gandhi, he called the party’s election process for leadership a “farce and sham” and said that the party had reached a point of “no return.”
Over a month after quitting the Congress despite a half-century-old association, Azad announced his party on September 26, 2022.
Sources said, keeping electoral politics in mind, Azad and his party colleagues may be looking for options ahead of the Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
They said several DPAP leaders are also planning to meet Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in Srinagar to discuss the ways and means for joining the Congress.
Amid the speculations, DPAP on Sunday denied reports of Azad and his party joining Congress, even though the party’s senior leader, Taj Mohiuddin, announced his decision to join Congress.
Meanwhile, a senior party leader claimed that nearly 20 top leaders from different political parties are in touch with Congress to join the party. However, he didn’t divulge the identities of any of the aspiring entrants.
These leaders belong to the Apni Party, DPAP, People’s Conference (PC), National Conference (NC), and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he said.
Notably, Congress has already formed a five-member committee to hold talks with different parties and individuals over the alliance.
The panel is led by newly appointed J&K Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra and comprises All Indian Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir, working committee presidents Raman Bhalla and Tara Chand, and former JKPCC chief Vikar Rasool Wani.
Sources said the committee has been tasked with holding talks with other leaders about their return to the party.
