At least 64 senior Congress leaders, including former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, resigned from the party in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday, 30 August.
They submitted a joint resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Chand and several others, including former Ministers Abdul Majid Wani, Manohar Lal Sharma, Gharu Ram, and former MLA Balwan Singh, announced their resignations from their party, including from its primary membership, at a press conference.
"We have submitted a joint resignation letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi in support of Azad," Balwan Singh said.
Azad, the 73-year-old former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, ended his five-decade association with the Congress on Friday, terming the party “comprehensively destroyed” and lashing out at Rahul Gandhi for “demolishing” its entire consultative mechanism.
He is set to launch a national-level party from Jammu and Kashmir soon.
Azad had called Rahul Gandhi "immature," referring to an instance of Gandhi tearing up a government ordinance in front of the media, and further said that Gandhi's "childish" behaviour had undermined the authority of the prime minister.
On Monday, he said that he will not join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it will not help his politics in Jammu and Kashmir.
64 Leaders Submit Joint Resignation Letter to Sonia Gandhi
Reading from the joint resignation letter signed by 64 leaders and senior functionaries across Jammu, Balwan Singh said:
“All of us had a very long association with the party spanning over decades and devoted all our energy and resources towards expanding the party in Jammu and Kashmir but unfortunately we found that the treatment meted out to us was humiliating.”
Claiming that Jammu and Kashmir is facing an unprecedented crisis in the absence of an elected government, Balwan Singh said Azad's decision to launch a national-level party from there will inspire hope and new determination to set things right once and for all.
'"With our leader and mentor Ghulam Nabi Azad having resigned from the party on the issue listed by him in a letter to you (Sonia), we believe that we should also come out of Congress to make some worthwhile contribution in building a positive political society where people are heard and responded too."Balwan Singh, reading from the joint resignation letter
“We are confident that J&K will be able to get statehood back after a gap of three years under the leadership of Azad. He is the sole and most powerful voice for statehood of J&K and early elections,” he said.
Singh said Azad is a perennial hope for the people of J&K for bridging gaps between regions and communities.
“We are sure that his (Azad's) vision will help J&K and its depressed masses to come out of the dark shadows of pessimism and shape a new and bright future for J&K,” he said.
Over a dozen prominent Congress leaders, including former ministers and legislators, besides hundreds of Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members, municipal corporators and district and block level leaders have already left the Congress to join Azad.
On Sunday, senior leader and former minister Taj Mohiuddin quit from the party and joined Ghulam Nabi Azad-led front.
“Today, I wrote to the Congress president and the general secretary and others that I am resigning from all the posts which I was holding, including the primary membership of Congress,” Mohiuddin told reporters at a press conference.
Ghulam Nabi Azad's Scathing Resignation From Congress
Launching a scathing attack on the Congress' central leadership, including party President Sonia Gandhi and its former chief Rahul Gandhi, senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, on 26 August, resigned from the party.
|The move by the veteran politician, who has served in various top positions, including a Union minister and the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, came amid his prolonged differences with the party's central leadership and the Gandhis.
Azad was part of a group of leaders known as the 'G-23', which had demanded reforms and changes in the party's leadership.
Later on Friday, Azad told news agency PTI that he will soon launch a new party, with its first unit in Jammu and Kashmir in view of impending polls.
Calling Sonia Gandhi a mere nominal figurehead, Azad claimed that all the important decisions were being made by Rahul Gandhi and his "security guards and PAs."
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