Ghulam Nabi Azad
After exiting Congress, Ghulam Nabhi Azad to launch new party in next 14 days
Ghulam Nabhi Azad, who quit Congress, his party of over five decades, on Friday, will launch a new party in the next 14 days, media reports said, citing his close aide.
Azad had stepped down citing dissatisfaction over the way the party was being run and the consequent erosion in its popularity among the voters. In a long letter to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, he held the party's top brass, especially Rahul Gandhi's "political immaturity", responsible for its subsequent poll debacles since 2013.
Azad will visit Jammu Kashmir on September 4 and hold consultations with his well-wishers and supporters before the launch of his new party.
After his exit, his close confidant GM Saroori said on Saturday that Azad is all set to launch his own party and its first unit would come up in Jammu and Kashmir within a fortnight, reported India Today.
He asserted that the restoration of the pre-August 5, 2019 position of Jammu and Kashmir will be part of the party's manifesto and also development and unity among all sections, it added.
Saroori, a former minister in the Jammu Kashmir government, was among the several Congress leaders and workers to quit the state unit of the party.
He said that the new party would have a secular character and dismissed allegations that Azad had acted at the behest of the BJP.
Azad's resignation came ahead of elections in the Union Territory.
The former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister said that he was in no hurry to launch a national party, but he wanted to start with a Jammu Kashmir unit due to the upcoming elections.
Saroori said the Congress is almost finished in Jammu and Kashmir with the departure of Azad, according to the report.
Over a dozen leaders, including several former ministers and legislators, resigned from the basic membership of the Congress in support of Azad and many more such as former deputy chief minister Tara Chand are likely to resign after meeting with Azad in New Delhi on Saturday, it stated.
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