Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s public outreach programme across Jammu and Kashmir in the past few weeks, independent of his party’s involvement, has fuelled speculation that the former chief minister could be preparing for a new role in regional politics.
Although Azad has claimed that there is no immediate plan to float a separate political party despite his disagreements with the Congress leadership, party leaders close to him in the Union Territory said the public rallies established him “as the next and the best chief minister” of J&K. Azad has flown back to Delhi, where he is likely to meet the party leadership.
In the past few weeks, Azad has addressed about ten public rallies with an impressive attendance across J&K, especially in the Pirpanchal and Chenab region of Jammu and some parts of southern Kashmir. The former CM of J&K also convened dozens of meetings with public representatives and the electorate at the grassroots level.
Azad told media persons during a rally in Jammu that he has no immediate plans to launch a party, but added that “nobody knows what happens next in politics”.
Meanwhile, there is speculation that Azad might be getting “behind the curtain support from the BJP” to ensure a CM from the Jammu division in the next assembly election.
“When people from all the communities met Rahulji in Jammu, they categorically told him to announce Azad sahib as the next chief minister candidate of the party in J&K,” Ghulam Ahmad Saroori, former minister and senior Congress leader from Kishtwar, told ET.
Saroori is among the 20 Congress leaders in Jammu who resigned from the party posts earlier this year to express their support for Azad. Immediately after the resignations from J&K, Congress leadership removed Azad from the party’s disciplinary committee.
“We are Congressmen at heart and we will remain so forever. Azad sahib went everywhere as Congressman and he is a sure-shot next chief minister of J&K,” said Saroori.
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