Congress sees opportunity in Ghulam Nabi Azad's DAP crisis

The DAP has lost a prominent Dalit face with Tara Chand's exit, along with upper-caste leaders who enjoyed a fair amount of support

The Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Democratic Azad Party (DAP) suffered a huge setback on December 24 as 126 workers and leaders left, protesting the expulsion of three senior leaders — Tara Chand, Balwan Singh, and Dr Manohar Lal Sharma — for alleged anti-party activities. They were booted for hobnobbing with Congress, the party said. Meanwhile, the grand old party of India put out the message that its doors were open for "secular-minded people".

Amongst prominent members who have left the DAP are Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association’s president M K Bhardwaj and the DAP’s Jammu district president Vinod Sharma. They were both considered Azad loyalists and those who quit the party appeared with the expelled leaders in front of the media.

Tara Chand was elected MLA from Khour three times in a row —1996, 2002 and 2008 — and has been a Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and Deputy Chief Minister of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state, while Sharma is a former minister and Balwan Singh a former MLA.

The DAP has lost a prominent Dalit face with Chand's exit, along with the other two who enjoyed a fair amount of support. The three ousted leaders were always on Azad's side during their time in the Congress, often to the high command's dislike.

Tara Chand described their expulsion as the worst kind of dictatorship and said that Azad had opposed the All India Congress Committee (AICC) on numerous occasions but had not been expelled from the party. "Here (in J&K), we opposed the PCC president (GA Mir) on his instigation, but no one even served us a notice," he added, noting that there has to be some democracy within the party.

He also lashed out at Azad, saying "What is its registration number, symbol, registered name or office?", adding that Azad had claimed to have expelled them when the party did not exist in the first place.

The former Deputy CM noted it was a mistake to leave the Congress and join Azad based on their old association with him, and added that when they'd joined the party there were 64 members and now, 126 have left him.

He also accused Azad of operating in a way that divides people with secular ideology aimed at benefiting a single party. Chand added those wanting to join the BJP should do it right away instead of being indirect about it. When asked about the expelled leaders' plans, he said that they would consult their supporters but intend to join Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra when it enters J&K next month.

J&K Congress president Vikar Rasool Wani, meanwhile, said that the party's doors were open to those who had a secular mindset and closed to those having a communal one. He slammed Azad, who'd split acrimoniously from the Congress in August, labelling the DAP as a BJP branch that is "collapsing under its weight".

"Our party’s doors are open for them and a decision to reinduct them into the Congress will be taken at an appropriate time," Wani said, adding that those who joined DAP felt let down by their fake slogans of Azad's party, which has not yet been recognized by or registered with the Election Commission.

(With inputs from PTI)