Congress battlefield shifts to Jammu as Azad makes ‘second homecoming’ in two decades

Rebels: Sharma, Sibbal, Babbar among G-23 leaders to show strength today

JAMMU: Troubles are further mounting for the beleaguered Congress party as a group of powerful dissident leaders are set to come out in open against the leadership with a symbolic beginning from this winter capital city of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.
A section of Congress party leaders and workers in Jammu and Kashmir were looking forward with excitement a scheduled ‘private and informal’ three-day tour of party veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad to Jammu beginning Friday, but there was a surprise by the evening. Congress circles were taken by storm when Azad’s close colleagues from what is called as G-23 (group of 23 dissident leaders who wrote to Sonia Gandhi on August 28, 2020 for organisational reforms), Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Bhoopinder Hooda, Vivek Tankha and Raj Babbar, also showed up.
Earlier in the day, Azad arrived to an overwhelming welcome at the airport from where he went to the party headquarters at Shaheedi Chowk after a brief stopover at his Gandhi Nagar residence. Hundreds of party workers and leaders including several former Ministers queued up at the airport to receive Azad. Enthusiastic crowds greeted him outside the airport. There was also a formal welcome lined up at the party headquarters.
Azad made a brief speech at the party headquarters which was in camera as the media was not invited to cover. A live stream from the Congress party’s official facebook handle was shutdown on Azad’s own suggestion after eight minutes of his speech. In the initial remarks he paid tributes to senior leaders Madan Lal Sharma and Mohammad Sharief Niaz (also cousin of Azad’s) who had passed in the recent past.
After the initial remarks, Azad made an elaborate detail or the organisational responsibilities he had held in the party and said that now he ‘wanted to relax’. “I have since long been requesting Mrs Sonia Gandhi to not give me any further assignment but every time she insists on one last position and it didn’t end”, said Azad while speaking to the party leaders. He asserted that he didn’t want to have an assignment which is why he doesn’t have any charge at the moment.
Ever since his retirement from the Lok Sabha earlier this month that was marked by an emotional speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speculations are rife about Azad’s interest in Jammu and Kashmir politics. Sources close to him say that while Azad remains keenly interested in Jammu and Kashmir his priorities also include a response to the party at national level.
Since August 28, 2020 when Ghulam Nabi Azad and twenty-two other leaders including Kapil Sibal, Bhoopinder Singh Hooda, Manish Tiwari, Raj Babbar and Vivek Tankha wrote a joint letter to the party leadership seeking organisational reforms, dissidence has been brewing up at different levels. A few months later when the party carried out reshuffle, Azad and most other leaders of the G-23 were dropped from the key responsibilities in the organisation.
Congress sources say that about a dozen of the G-23 leaders are solidly behind Azad and they want him to make a beginning from Jammu. The presence of senior leaders together with Azad in Jammu when party is facing elections in four states and Rahul Gandhi is personally caught in his north-south remark is a renewed trouble for the already embattled Congress party. Incidentally, the group of Congress leaders set to share dais in Jammu are all from north India and as they join the event together on Saturday, Rahul Gandhi will be traveling to south in Kerala.
Interestingly, the event of an evident rebellion the Congress leaders are joining together in Jammu on Saturday is named as ‘Shanti Sammelan’, being organised by Gandhi Global Family, Jammu and Kashmir chapter headed by one SP Verma. Azad has been personally closely associated with the Gandhi Global Family while Verma was awarded Padma under Manmohan Singh government.
It is worth mentioning here that Azad had made a similar beginning from Jammu when side-lined by the Congress party back in 2002. AICC General Secretary in-charge Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Azad was divested of all charges and demoted. He was sent as president of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee in March 2002.
It was from Jammu that Azad made a new beginning on April 10, 2002 and prepared party for state elections held later the same year. The Congress party improved its position from seven seats to 20 under Azad even five independent members also joined the party soon after. The party high command, however, decided to give the junior party PDP chance to lead the coalition under Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as Chief Minister.
Azad had later returned to Delhi and promoted as General Secretary with charge of several important states, including Andhra Pradesh. In 2004, the Congress came to power as leader of the UPA and Azad was inducted as Union Minister for Housing and Urban Development. In November 2005, he returned to Jammu and Kashmir to take over as Chief Minister, a post he held July 11, 2008.