Former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister and founder of the newly-floated Democratic Progressive Azad Party, Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday dismissed reports about his possible return to the Congress with which he had snapped his 52-year-old association earlier this year.
Talking to PTI, Azad said reports suggesting his return to the Congress are planted by some vested leaders in the Congress and there was no truth in them.
"I have never spoken to any Congress leader and neither has anyone called me. So I wonder why these kinds of stories are planted in the media," Azad said.
He said these attempts were made by the Congress leaders to create a sense of uncertainty within his party cadres and to demoralise them. "Come whatever may, we will emerge stronger," he said.
Azad, who has served as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said, "I have not indulged in any mudslinging with anyone. Whatever I had to say, I made it clear in my resignation letter. After this I am on my own path to serve the people who have given me their trust."
Asked whether he would be joining the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra when it enters Jammu and Kashmir next month, Azad said, "I have no such plan. My hands are full with my own work."
Earlier reports emanating from Congress said efforts are underway to bring back Azad to the party fold and persuade him to join the Rahul–led yatra.
The Congress sources said senior party leaders Ambika Soni, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Bihar PCC chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh were working to prepare the grounds for a “comfortable rejoining” of Azad.
Azad had quit the grand old party in August and then launched his political outfit 'Democratic Azad Party' in October.
Azad’s newly floated Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPA) is in a state of disarray and several leaders who came from the Congress have either left the fledgling outfit or been expelled from it. They include former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, former Minister Manohar Lal Sharma and former legislator Balwan Singh.
Chand has said they will remain secular till their last breath and would have no objection to joining the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra when it enters Jammu and Kashmir.
"The decision of the DAP to expel us without any reason or justification came as a big surprise to us. Today, we feel that our decision to resign from the Congress in support of Azad was a blunder," Chand, flanked by the leaders and activists, had told reporters here.
Sources said Hooda and Singh have contacted Azad and requested him to return to Congress by joining the Yatra. At the same time, Ambika is understood to have conveyed to her former party associate to consider joining the party and take the initiative by first joining the yatra.
