Boost for Congress in J&K ahead of Bharat Jodo Yatra as Ghulam Nabi Azad loyalists rejoin party

Considered loyalists to Ghulam Nabi Azad, all these leaders had left the Congress to join the Democratic Azad Party (DAP). However, Azad had expelled Chand, Lal and Balwan Singh from DAP last month for “anti-party activities”.

Chand, Lal and Singh were among the first Congress leaders to put their weight behind Azad when he resigned from Congress in August last year, ending five decades of association.

However, even Azad registered his party’s name with the Election Commission, he expelled Tara Chand, Balwan Singh and former minister Dr Manohar Lal Sharma from DAP on charges of anti-party activities.

All three rejoined the Congress in the presence of AICC general secretary in charge of organisation K C Venugopal, AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh and AICC in charge of the state Rajani Patil.

Welcoming them back, Vengopal said that it was a happy occasion for the party before the Yatra as “our stalwarts of J&K Congress, who had left us due to some misunderstanding, have come back home”. He said it was like these leaders had taken a leave from the party for two months. “The leave is over and they are back,” he added.

Besides Chand, Lal and Singh, the ones who returned to the Congress included former PCC president and three time minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Mohd Mujaffar Parray, Mohinder Bhardwaj, Bhushan Dogra, Vinod Sharma, Narinder Sharma, Naresh Sharma, Ambrish Magotra, Subash Bhagat, Santosh Manhas, Badri Nath Sharma, Varun Magotra, Anuradha Sharma, Vijay Targotra and Chander Prabha Sharma (senior women’s leader of DAP)

Ramesh said two more leaders will rejoin the party soon. “It is the first tranche… more will join soon,” he added.

Venugopal said that people from all “like-minded political parties” from J&K, too, are joining the Yatra, which has “become a big movement in the country”.

“This is only the beginning. When the Yatra enters J&K..all those people who believe in Congress ideology and want a united India will join the yatra,” Venugopal said.

Chand said leaving the Congress was the biggest blunder of his political life. He said it was a wrong step taken in haste. “I got swayed by emotions and friendship,” he said.

On his part, Peerzada apologised to the people of J&K and the Congress for leaving the party.

“We had spent all our life in the Congress. But in between, a situation arose when we, swayed by emotions, took a wrong step in haste. It was a wrong decision. The party, which gave a poor person like me an identity… made me an MLA, CLP leader… Assembly Speaker, Deputy Speaker… I believe it was the biggest blunder of our lives to leave the Congress, swayed by emotions and influenced by somebody’s friendship,” Chand said.

Reiterating Chand’s statement, Peerzada added: “I apologise to the people of Kashmir, the people of India and to my party. I could not sleep for the last two months. There was so much pressure on me, not just from the people but from my family too… because there is an emotional bond between the Gandhi family and the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The people of J&K still love the Gandhi family.”

He and Chand said that it was time to strengthen the secular forces in the country and in J&K. “And our party has a central role in it,” he said.

Asked whether the Congress is in talks with Azad for his return to the party, Venugopal said, “He himself has denied. We have said that those who believe in the ideology of the Bharat Jodo Yatra can join the yatra. All are welcome.”

Asked about Azad’s leadership, Chand said he was a senior Congress leader and an experienced politician with whom he had a relationship for four decades. He added that he was not aware of the circumstances that led to Azad’s exit from the Congress.

“My relationship with him is over 40 years…as a friend… as a senior I considered him as my leader…Only he can say why he had left the Congress….If you ask me…why I left the Congress…Because of my friendship with him…I got swayed by emotions…But when emotions cooled down…I remembered that I should work for that party which has given me everything, which has built this country,” Chand said.

“It is time to strengthen and unite secular forces in India and in J&K. When we realized that there was something amiss…that we are being misled and taken in a different direction…that there are attempts to weaken secular forces…we have returned home…we thought we went on a wrong path…and we should return to the right path,” Chand added.

He said Azad never consulted him before leaving the Congress.