J&K: Major setback to Ghulam Nabi Azad, 17 of his party leaders return to Congress

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In a major setback to former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, seventeen leaders of the recently floated Democratic Azad Party (DAP), including former deputy chief minister Tara Chand and former Pradesh Congress Committee chief Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, on Friday returned to the Congress.

The seventeen leaders had joined Azad's Democratic Azad Party on 26 September 2022 in Jammu and Kashmir, the day the party was formed and later came to be known as Democratic Progressive Party.

AICC general secretary KC Venugopal welcomed the leaders. Venugopal said that it is a welcome development as leaders were returning to Congress ahead of the Bharat Jodo Yatra which is scheduled to enter Jammu and Kashmir later in January.

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Speaking to reporters, Venugopal said, "Bharat Jodo Yatra has become a big movement in the country. It is for this reason that these leaders have decided to come back to the Congress."

Venugopal said that the party has invited all like-minded parties to join the Yatra. "Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti will join the Yatra and walk with Rahul Gandhi in Srinagar."

Another senior congress leader Jairam Ramesh told reporters many other people from the state will join the Congress party in coming days.

Meanwhile, Azad has denied that it was a setback for his newly formed party saying that all those who "went back" had no constituency.

Azad said it was because of the delimitation that these people left his party since they were left without their constituencies.

"I had given them positions as they were my old colleagues and they could not have contested elections. But, they could not digest that. It is okay. Perhaps where they went, they do not know that these three only had party positions, but have no constituencies."