The Jammu and Kashmir Congress Sunday lost another senior Valley leader, Taj Mohiuddin, to the Ghulam Nabi Azad camp. Mohiuddin, a former minister in the erstwhile state, said Azad has no tie-up with the BJP and the new party announced by him could ally with the NC or Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if needed. “I have written to the Congress president and AICC general secretary that I am resigning from all the party posts and also from the basic membership of the party," Mohiuddin said at a press conference in Srinagar on Sunday. A prominent Gujjar leader, Mohiuddin hails from the Jammu region. However, he made the Valley's border region of Uri his political turf. Uri, with a mixed population of Gujjars and Paharis, was an NC stronghold and the Assembly seat returned its candidate Mohammad Shafi for five consecutive terms. But Mohiuddin managed to make inroads into the constituency and won the seat in 2002 and 2008. Mohiuddin was a cabinet minister during the PDP-Congress and then the NC-Congress coalition governments. On Sunday, he said: “Azad sahib may have personal relations with the BJP or Prime Minister Narendra Modi but that doesn’t mean he will have political relations with the BJP.” “The rumours that are being spread in the Valley that Azad Sahib has understating with the BJP are totally baseless and I swear by God that we have no connection with the BJP. We have a secular tradition and we will never joins hands with the non-secular party in any case.” Mohiuddin added that they would rather join hands with the NC or the PDP. The Azad camp has already seen support from some high profile Congress leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier, a group of leaders from Jammu and Kashmir met Azad in New Delhi to show their support for him. The leaders include G M Saroori, Jugal Sharma and Abdul Rashid Dar. Dar, a former Congress legislator from north Kashmir's Sopore resigned and joined Azad. A resident of Dangerpora village of Sopore, Dar has been a two-time Congress MLA from Sopore.
