64 Congress leaders resign as Ghulam Nabi Azad looks set to launch party

As many as 64 senior Congress leaders, including former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, have resigned from the party in support of veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The former Union Minister, who quit the Congress last week and has decided to float a political party, will hold a public meeting at 11am on September 4 at Sainik Colony in Jammu. This will be his first meeting since he ended his nearly 50-year-long association with Congress.

Azad has said that he will launch a new party soon, and that the first unit will be formed in Jammu and Kashmir in view of impending assembly polls. Azad was Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008, and is the former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.

In an indication of his political stock even as he has resigned from Congress, three party leaders and members of the Group of 23 met Azad at his residence in the nation's capital on Tuesday. These were: former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda, former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan, and former union minister Anand Sharma. Azad was also a member of G23.

In his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi, Azad targeted party leadership, particularly Rahul Gandhi, over the way the party has been run in the past nearly nine years. He described Gandhi as a "non-serious" and "immature" individual, adding that he was submitting his resignation with "great regret and an extremely leaden heart".

Recounting his long association with the Congress, Azad noted that the situation in the party has reached a point of "no return." His decision to form a political party also holds importance as the Valley is likely to go to polls later this year.

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