Another senior leader leaves J&K Congress; joins Azad

Srinagar: Following Ghulam Nabi Azad's leave, senior leader and former minister Taj Mohiuddin also quit Jammu and Kashmir Congress to join Azad's front. The development gave the party another jolt on Sunday, PTI reported.

At Srinagar, he told the press, "Today, I wrote to the Congress president and the general secretary and others that I am resigning from all the posts which I was holding, including the primary membership of Congress."

However, Mohiuddin said that Azad's camp would not ally BJP but join with National Conference or PDP.

"Azad's relationship with Modi doesn't mean those are political ties. Some people allege that he has some terms with the BJP. Personal relationship and political relationship is always different. He was parliamentary affairs minister twice, and he had a good relationship with the opposition then.

"I assure you that we don't have any relation with the BJP, and I swear by God. We are secular and can in no way have any ties with a non-secular party, not mine, not Azad's," he said.

Asked if the Azad-led party would ally with the BJP in the assembly elections whenever they are held in J-K, the former MLA from Uri said if there is a need for an alliance post the elections, they will ally with the NC or the PDP.

When asked, he clarified that if there is a need for allies post elections, they will ally with the NC or the PDP. "If need be for an alliance, we will do it with the NC or the PDP, but never with the BJP," he said.

When asked about accusations that Azad will divide the Muslim vote bank, particularly in the Jammu region, Mohiuddin said BJP has no role in their grouping. The day I come to know that it has anything to do with the BJP, I will leave the party", he asserted.

The new group's manifesto would be the restoration of the August 4, 2019, position of Jammu and Kashmir, when it was a state and had a special status under Article 370 of the Constitution.

According to him, the cream of the J&K unit of Congress was gone after Azad left, and those Congress leaders who had joined other parties will also join him. "There is nothing in the Congress party here now. There are now two or three winnable seats for the Congress," he added.

On the criticism of Azad by some Congress leaders, Mr Mohiuddin said they are saying Congress has given so much to him, but can a man survive for 52 years if he is not talented? "Do you think everybody becomes a minister? Only a talented person becomes a minister," he said.