New party in 10 days: Announces Ghulam Nabi Azad at Jammu and Kashmir rally, weeks after quitting Congress

New Delhi: Ghulam Nabi Azad, who had quit the Congress last month, on Sunday said that he will be announcing a new party within 10 days. The veteran politician was addressing a public meeting in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing his maiden rally in Jammu and Kashmir after his acrimonious exit from the Congress months after raising issues about the internal functioning of the grand old party several times, the 73-year-old leader said that his new party would bring together the people of the two provinces of the Union Territory, with its topmost agenda being restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

“I have not decided upon a name for my party yet. The 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 had said at the rally after disassociation from the Congress.

“My party will focus on the restoration of full statehood, right to land, and employment to native domicile,” he had said.

Speaking at the rally to strengthen his electoral base, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said that his supporters have multiplied after he left the Congress.

Azad was associated with the Congress for nearly five decades. Soon after he quit the party, several other party members too have announced their exit.

On Saturday, news agency ANI quoted Azad saying that that he had “met around 400 people from delegations of 30-35 assembly constituencies in Jammu…. They gave their support… and they will be a part of whatever party I make.”

Ghulam Nabi Azad and his new party

In his earlier rally at Sainik Colony in Jammu, Azad had said that the first unit of his political outfit would be formed in Jammu and Kashmir in view of impending assembly polls.

He also lashed out at Congress and said that people are trying to defame him and his supporters who left the party, but their reach is limited to computer tweets.

Criticising the grand old party, he said: “Congress was made by us by our blood, not by computers, not by Twitter. People are trying to defame us but their reach is limited to computers and tweets. That is the reason Congress is nowhere to be seen on the ground.”

Azad had said, “I have served the Congress party holding every position for last 53 years, but never received this much of love even when I am not on any position.”

Hitting out at Congress, Azad said that people from party now go to jail in buses, call DGP or Commissioners, get their names written, and leave within an hour. This is the reason Congress has been unable to grow.

Ghulam Nabi Azad and his hard-hitting resignation letter

In his five-page resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Azad targeted party leadership, especially Rahul Gandhi, over the way the party has been functioning in the past nearly nine years.

He had claimed that a coterie runs the party while Sonia Gandhi was just “a nominal head” and all the major decisions were taken by “Rahul Gandhi or rather worse his security guards and personal assistants”.

Azad had said that he was submitting his resignation with “great regret and an extremely leaden heart” and severing his 50-year association with the Congress. He was earlier Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.

Recounting his long association with the Congress, Azad had said the situation in the party has reached a point of “no return”.

With inputs from agencies

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