Yogesh
Jammu, Nov 19: In a major boost to the Congress party in Jammu and Kashmir, several prominent leaders, who had left the party with Ghulam Nabi Azad in 2022, made a formal “ghar wapsi” (homecoming) on Wednesday.
Former ministers including Jugal Kishore Sharma and Abdul Majid Wani, ex-MLC and former Kathua DDC chairman Subhash Gupta and senior leader from Udhampur Brij Mohan Sharma joined the Congress in the presence of top party leadership during a grand function held in Jammu to mark the 109th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The ceremony was attended by AICC general secretary and J&K in-charge Dr Sayeed Naseer Hussain, AICC General Secretary and CLP leader G A Mir, JKPCC President Tariq Hameed Karra, newly appointed AICC Secretary Pargat Singh, AICC Mahila Congress President Alka Lamba and IYC President Uday Bhanu Chib.
Party sources described the development as the homecoming of grassroots leaders, who had resigned from Congress following Ghulam Nabi Azad’s dramatic exit in August 2022 to float the Democratic Progressive Azad Progressive Party (DPAP).
Several of Azad’s close aides, including former deputy CM Tara Chand, former PCC chief Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, and former ministers G M Saroori and Taj Mohiuddin, had already returned to Congress in the past year.
Highly placed Congress sources revealed that the re-entry of Jugal Kishore Sharma, Abdul Majid Wani, G M Saroori, Taj Mohi-ud-din and others was earlier “blocked due to alleged sabotage by a few senior leaders within the J&K unit” just before the 2024 Assembly elections.
Speaking on the occasion, JKPCC Chief Tariq Hameed Karra welcomed the leaders and said their return would further consolidate the Congress as the principal opposition force in Jammu and Kashmir.
AICC in-charge Dr Sayeed Naseer Hussain termed the development a “big morale booster” and asserted that more leaders disillusioned with the DPAP and other regional outfits are in touch with the Congress. The string of high-profile returns comes at a time when Ghulam Nabi Azad’s DPAP has been facing internal dissent and poor electoral performance, having failed to open its account in the 2024 Assembly polls.
Meanwhile, senior DPAP leader, Salman Nizami called the leaders who rejoined Congress today as “deadwood,” noting that some had left the party, contested independently and are still using Azad’s name, but they had lost by large margins.
He added that former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had told these leaders to go anywhere, as he did not want the burden of such leaders again.
Nizami said Congress, weakened in many states including J&K, cannot expect revival by relying on these deadwood leaders.
He also noted that Congress lacks a strong face in J&K, with even their alliance partner NC not taking them seriously. “Since Azad’s departure, Congress has lost 8 assembly elections and 1 Lok Sabha election. Nizami praised Azad as a national leader with significant contributions, emphasising that the people of J&K did not fully understand his vision, a mistake they now regret.”
He added that Azad will visit J&K soon, after which future strategy will be decided.
