Ghulam Nabi Azad Quits J&K Congress Panel Hours After Being Appointed As Chairman

His resignation came shortly after his close aide, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, was dropped from the post of the chief of the party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit. He had stepped down last month. 

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad — long upset from his party — stepped down from a key party post in Jammu and Kashmir, reported news agency PTI. Azad quit the post of party’s campaign committee chairman shortly after being appointed and also resigned from the party's Jammu and Kashmir political affairs committee. 

He was one of the members of the 23 leaders-group who wrote an explosive letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi two years ago, seeking organisational overhaul. 

His resignation came shortly after his close aide, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, was dropped from the post of the chief of the party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit. He had stepped down last month. 

The party had effected a thorough organisational shake-up in the Union Territory and appointed Vikar Rasool Wani in place of Mr Mir.

In a statement the party said that it has accepted the resignation of Mir from the post of president of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee. 

The Congress president appointed the president and working president of the J&K unit and also constituted the campaign committee, political affairs committee, coordination committee, manifesto committee, publicity and publication committee, disciplinary committee and pradesh election committee of the UT unit with immediate effect, the statement said.

Wani (46), a resident of Banihal township of Jammu region's Ramban district, is a two-time former legislator who also served as a minister during the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference-Congress coalition government between 2009-14.

The Centre wants to hold assembly elections in the Union Territory soon after the process of finalisation of electoral rolls is underway after the completion of delimitation exercise. 

The Election Commission recently revised to November 25, the date of final publication of voters list of Jammu and Kashmir, the union territory’s first voters’ list after the boundaries of assembly seats were redrawn in the delimitation exercise. 

After the rolls are published, the EC can technically hold assembly polls in the UT. A timeline for the election is yet to be officially declared.