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Ghulam Nabi Azad's update on party tomorrow weeks after Congress departure
Azad had earlier said that people of Jammu and Kashmir will decide the name and the flag for the party.
Weeks after breaking ranks with the Congress and announcing the formation of his own party, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday said he would be holding a press conference on Monday. While he has announced key details about his party, the suspense on the name of the party lingers. Monday's address is expected to shed light on the same.
"I will hold a press conference tomorrow. Today, I will hold meetings with my workers and leaders," Azad was quoted as saying by news agency ANI in Jammu. He made the comments on being asked about his new political party.
Azad had earlier said that people of Jammu and Kashmir will decide the name and the flag for the party. "I will give a Hindustani name to my party that everyone can understand,” Azad said at a rally in Baramulla.
The former Congress leader had earlier pitched for restoring the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir, but then stated he would not mislead people with false promises on the issue. One of the key demands of the people of the erstwhile state of J&K who want the earlier status of the Valley to be restored, the statehood was revoked by the Centre in 2019 - in what marked as one of the key decisions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government.
Addressing his first rally in the Union Territory after his exit from the Congress earlier this month, Azad had lashed out at detractors who have accused him of staying silent on the statehood issue.
Also read | Won’t befool people for electoral gains, says Ghulam Nabi Azad on Article 370
The Centre revoked the special status of J&K under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated it into two Union territories on August 5, 2019.
“Today, some leaders are asking why I don’t speak on Article 370. Ghulam Nabi Azad will never mislead people for the sake of votes. We have already lost one lakh people and have fifty thousand widows and four to five lakh orphans here. Thousands lost their homes. Leaders should not give such slogans [on issues] that are not in our hands,” he had said at the rally in Baramulla.
Azad had resigned from the Congress last month and – in a stinging letter to the party leadership - criticised senior leader Rahul Gandhi for leading to a decline in the party’s decision-making process. Following Azad's lead, at least one dozen legislators and 1,500 leaders resigned from the party.
