Azad bid to resurrect his political career in J&K

Azad is focusing on the ‘helplessness of common people’ as they have no reach to the bureaucrats.

Srinagar: Congress in Jammu and Kashmir is on the verge of getting into the fold of a possible new political outfit to be announced by senior Congress leader and former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, if the party high command continues to ignore him not only in the main affairs of the party, but also about his vision for the party in Jammu and Kashmir.
Recently, Ghulam Nabi Azad has started speaking in the public and in such areas where it was the first political outreach by any mainstream political leader, especially in South Kashmir. Now he is holding impressive public rallies in Jammu region, seeking statehood and immediate elections while targeting the present dispensation being headed by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
Azad is focusing on the helplessness of common people as they have no reach to the bureaucrats who, according to his speeches, are giving only figures and doing no work on the ground. Not only Azad, even the National Conference has started a reach out programme in Jammu region and is being headed by Omar Abdullah who in his speeches so far has spared none, including Ghulam Nabi Azad and PDP.
He is projecting his party National Conference as the only political voice of the entire erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, including Ladakh, and has been focusing on restoration of Article 370 at any cost, linking this Article with the future of Jammu and Kashmir. The political activities of Ghulam Nabi Azad have a background that he is not only trying to resurrect himself in Jammu and Kashmir as a face for the future elections, but is also trying to force the party high command to concede the political space to his loyalists in Jammu and Kashmir. Recently, more than 20 main political faces of Congress in Jammu and Kashmir, including former ministers, have asked for change of leadership in Jammu and Kashmir and have demanded the removal of present JKPCC chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir.
They have demanded that Ghulam Nabi Azad should be handed over the affairs of Jammu and Kashmir and should be the face of the party for the future elections. “He should be declared as the Chief Ministerial candidate for Jammu and Kashmir if Congress wants to win the coming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. If they do not pay heed to our requests, there would be a complete revolt in Jammu and Kashmir against the party high command,” said Ghulam Muhammad Suroori, a former minister of Congress from Jammu.
Ghulam Nabi Azad is also consulting his friends in various political parties and is weighing his options to float to regional political outfit if the Congress high command ignores his latest political posturing in Jammu and Kashmir. Informed sources told this newspaper that Azad will wait for some months to understand the ground situation, especially in the Jammu region, and will also weigh his options about floating a new political party in the future.

Sunday Guardian