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33 J&K Congress leaders quit in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad
Former Pradesh Congress Committee president Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed in Jammu and Kashmir was among 33 leaders who resigned from the party in support of former senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who quit the party last week and is likely to float his own political outfit.
The exodus from the Jammu and Kashmir unit of Congress continued on Wednesday, with former PCC president Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed resigning from the party’s primary membership and pledging support to veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has announced to float his own political outfit in the Union territory.
Besides Sayeed —who is the third former minister from Kashmir to have quit the party — 32 other Congress leaders also resigned from the party on Wednesday.
“There is a limit to tolerance. I was feeling suffocated in the Congress party,” Sayeed told reporters. “So, it is with a heavy heart that I am snapping my ties with the party after nearly 50 years.”
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“Peerzada Sayeed, I and dozens of other leaders have resigned from the Congress today (Wednesday),” said Muzuffar Parray, a former legislator who accompanied Sayeed during a press conference.
More than 100 Congress leaders have resigned from the party since Friday, when Azad quit the country’s principal opposition party. While 67 leaders, including a former deputy CM, resigned from the Congress on Tuesday, another dozen had quit earlier.
Former legislator GM Saroori earlier told HT that over 1,500 party functionaries have resigned in support of Azad. “The Jammu and Kashmir is now Congress-free,” he quipped.
Sayeed, who has contested from the Kokernag constituency in southern Kashmir in the past, had reduced his participation in party programmes owing to his age and health. Parray, who had unsuccessfully contested several elections from Sangrama constituency, was later nominated to the legislative council.
“Who is left in the Congress now? All senior leaders have left the party,” Sayeed told reporters when asked if more leaders were going to switch sides in the coming days.
Sayeed also said he was in regular touch with Azad over the past many years. “Azad would often express helplessness saying no one listens to him in the party,” he said. “We told him to leave the party and pledged to join him.”
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All leaders who have quit the Congress are likely to join the new political party being floated by Azad in the coming days. Azad is likely to hold his first public rally since snapping ties with the Congress in Jammu on Sunday. Close aides of the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said the IT unit of the new party, which has national aspirations, would be established soon.
Meanwhile, newly appointed PCC chief Vikar Rasool downplayed the resignations, saying they will have no impact on the party.
“Now youth leaders will come forward and more people are ready to become a part of the Congress,” he said, while attacking Azad for allegedly “working at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party”.
