Unhappy Azad says not consulted on J&K team; Congress denies

Congress sources said Azad was consulted four times and the last was on July 14

Refusing to take up the new assignment in Jammu and Kashmir, veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has sent a message to Congress leadership that he is not willing to blink first in his rebellion he started in August 2020, prompting the party to clear the air that he was consulted more than once and his suggestions were incorporated.

Azad, who is a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) was on Tuesday night appointed the Chairperson of Campaign Committee for Jammu and Kashmir and a member of the Political Affairs Committee, as party president Sonia Gandhi reshuffled the state unit appointing a new team led by Vikar Rasoon Wani.

Congress sources said he was consulted four times, the last deliberations happening on July 14. They also claimed Sonia picked up names from the list provided by him even as they sought to downplay Azad’s criticism saying he was Campaign Committee Chairman when Saifuddin Soz was Jammu and Kashmir Congress president.

Also Read | Hours after appointment, Ghulam Nabi Azad resigns from key posts in J&K Congress

Within hours of his appointment, Azad refused to be part of the panels, as he was said to be upset with putting him in the Political Affairs Committee under Tariq Ahmed Karra, a late entrant into the party and who is only a Permanent Invitee in the CWC while he is a full-time CWC member.

He was also not enthused to be the Campaign Committee head though Azad is said to have cited health reasons for his refusal to take the job.

Azad is said to be upset over choosing Wani as party chief while claiming that there was no proper consultation with him and the finalised names were announced without his knowledge. There were four names in contention for the party chief but Azad’s complaint is that a less popular person was chosen.

Sources also claimed that Azad had informed state in-charge Rajani Patil that he would not be part of any panels and would resign if he would be included.

Azad’s relationship with the party had soured since August 2020 after he wrote the letter to Sonia along with 22 others, who were later known as G-23 leaders. The Narendra Modi government conferring Padma Bhushan to Azad further strained the relationship while he was slowly taken off the decision making apparatus of the party.

Also Read | A ‘family man’: The importance of being Azad

Though he retained a place in the CWC and was included in the Political Affairs Committee, the Congress has not renominated him to Rajya Sabha though it chose Gandhi loyalists to ten seats the party could win.

The decision of the 73-year-old leader, who is a former Chief Minister and Union Minister, has put the Congress in a spot in Jammu and Kashmir where it does not have a leader of his stature to steer the party at a time the union territory will be headed for Assembly election soon.

Congress wanted Azad to be at the helm though he had not evinced interest in state politics. The party was expecting that his presence would help in stitching a broad Opposition alliance in the state by bringing anti-BJP forces.