After saying goodbye to the Congress, former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is set to inflict more pain on the party with which he was associated for more than 50 years. Azad’s declaration that he would launch a new political party may spell doom for the Congress in Jammu, where he has considerable influence.
In all probability, Azad’s maiden entry on the political landscape in a new avatar is more likely to benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is eying maximum number of Assembly seats from the Jammu region to form the popular Government on its own strength.
His decision to quit the party has left the Jammu & Kashmir unit of the Congress in total disarray. The National Conference and PDP have also failed to consolidate their support base in the Jammu region.
Some popular leaders of these regional parties have already switched sides and joined the BJP and Jammu and Kashmir Apni party.
As many as seven senior Congress leaders, including former Ministers and party legislators, on Friday forwarded their resignations to the party high command till late evening.
These included ex-MLA from Inderwal GM Saroori, Mohd Amin Bhat, Gulzar Ahmad Wani, Haji Abdul Rashid, Choudhary Mohd Aslam, RS Chib and Jugal Kishore. Some more Azad’s loyalists may quit the party.
Hari Om, a retired professor who headed History department of Jammu University, told The Pioneer that Azad’s decision to dump the Congress at this crucial juncture may have stunned many, but he seems to be have been working behind the scenes for a long time to become a major stakeholder in the corridors of power.
Prof Hari Om said the BJP will be the major beneficiary in the poll arena if Azad fields his party candidates in the fray during the Assembly polls.Prof Hari Om, however, feels the Assembly polls are not going to take place in the near future.
“Azad may get enough time to raise his party machinery to his satisfaction in order to give a tough fight to his political opponents in the fray,” added Prof Hari Om.
The vertical split in the J&K unit of the Congress party may take its toll on the poll preparations of the party as several senior party leaders have decided to support Azad instead of strengthening the party base. In the 2014 Assembly polls, the Congress had won only 5 seats from Jammu region. From the plain areas of Jammu, Samba and Kathua the party failed to open its account. It won two seats from the Reasi district, and one each from Doda, Ramban and Poonch.
Bickering within the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration is also going to impact the poll outcome across Jammu region due to multi corner contests on most of the seats.
Division of votes between different Opposition parties may help the BJP win the majority votes on closely contested seats. Friendly contests on some of the seats, or pre poll adjustment may also allow BJP to come closer to the majority mark with the help of other like minded parties in the Kashmir valley.
Azad had earlier earned the sobriquet of party’s lucky mascot for scripting a glorious victory for the party during 2002 polls in Jammu & Kashmir. After winning 20 Assembly seats the party had formed an alliance Government with the Peoples Democratic Party.
Azad returned to the State in 2005 only to become the first Chief Minister of the Congress in the last three decades replacing Mufti Mohd Sayeed as per the power sharing arrangement.
For almost three years, he worked tirelessly to build infrastructure in the State with little or virtually no help from his alliance partners, who remained busy in unsettling his applecart. After his unceremonious exit from the State in 2008, Azad shifted base to New Delhi and served as the Union Minister in the Manmohan Singh Government. In 2014, he failed to win the Lok Sabha seat from Udhampur-Doda. He was defeated by Dr Jitendra Singh by a huge margin of over 60,000 votes. In 2019 he declined to contest the Lok Sabha seat.
Observers closely watching Azad’s political career point out that when he was at the helm in New Delhi he never allowed the state PCC to flourish and function smoothly.
“He manipulated the state unit from New Delhi, and now when he failed to earn a Rajya Sabha seat he decided to call it quits ahead of launching his own political outfit,” said a political observer.