Early Times Report
Jammu, June 12: After facing embarrassment in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections, the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) of Ghulam Nabi Azad would face another setback as four former legislators from Kashmir Valley are likely to rejoin Congress very soon.
According to sources, a prominent leader of a politically very important assembly constituency of Baramulla district of North Kashmir is going to leave Ghulam Nabi Azad and return to Congress. This leader, a former MLA and minister, had contested many elections on a Congress ticket, but when Azad resigned from the Congress in August 2022, this prominent leader also resigned from the Congress and held Azad's hand.
Another former MLA from North Kashmir is also in touch with the Congress leadership to rejoin the party.
Along with the leader of the Baramulla district, a senior leader of the Kulgam district of South Kashmir is also going to return to Congress. Apart from being a member of the Legislative Assembly, this leader has also been a member of the Legislative Council. This leader is considered a staunch supporter of Ghulam Nabi Azad but now he is fed up with the style of the functioning of the party.
Another former MLA from South Kashmir, who belongs to Anantnag district, is also returning to the Congress.
According to sources, if everything goes well, all four leaders will rejoin the Congress next week. The return of all three to the Congress is happening due to the efforts of AICC general secretary and former PCC chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir.
Important to mention here that after the formation of the party, Azad finds it difficult to keep his flock together. Azad’s staunch supporters like Tara Chand, Peerzada Muhammad Sayeed, Balwan Singh, Muzaffar Paray, Haji Abdul Rashid, Advocate Mohinder Bhardwaj, Bhushan Dogra, Virodh Sharma, Narendra Sharma, Naresh Sharma, Amresh Mangotra, Subhash Baghat, Santosh Manhas, Badrinath Sharma, Varun Mangotra, Anuradha Sharma, Chander Prabha Sharma, and Vijay Sargotra have rejoined the Congress party.
It is worth noting that Ghulam Nabi Azad's party contested elections on three Lok Sabha seats of the state, but people completely rejected Azad's party.
Azad's party got only 2.49 percent votes from the Anantnag-Rajouri seat while it could get only 2.24 percent votes from the Srinagar seat.
Similarly, Azad's party managed to get only 3.56 percent of votes from the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency.
Instead of fielding a candidate from his party on Baramulla Lok Sabha seat, Azad supported independent candidate Engineer Rashid. |
