Srinagar, Aug 26: Six Congress leaders have resigned from the party in support of former J&K Chief Minister and MP Ghulam Nabi Azad who separated from the grand old party earlier today.
Five leaders, including GM Saroori, Haji Abdul Rashid, Mohd Amin Bhat, Gulzar Ahmad Wani and Choudhary Mohammad Akram, submitted a joint letter of resignation.
All of them said they were resigning from the basic membership of the party in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad.
“Over the years as a member of the Congress Party, it has been my sincere endeavour to work for the betterment of my State – Jammu & Kashmir. I feel that in the prevailing circumstances Congress Party has lost its momentum in contributing towards the future of my State,” RS Chib, a close confidant of Azad said in the letter to party present Sonia Gandhi.
“Keeping in view the turmoil that the State of J&K has witnessed over the past decades, the people require a decisive leader like Jb. Ghulam Nabi Azad to guide them towards a better future. I feel that the Congress Party has not been able to play the role that is expected of it,” he added, in his letter of resignation.
“I firmly believe that there is a growing divergence between my views and the views of those at the helm of the Party affairs. In light of the same, I feel that the best course of action would be for me to part ways with your Party,” he said, adding, “Accordingly, I am tendering my resignation from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress.”
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday resigned from the party ahead of organisational elections, terming it comprehensively destroyed and accusing the leadership of committing fraud” on the party in the name of “sham” internal polls.
Delivering another blow to the embattled party that has seen a series of high profile exits, including that of Kapil Sibal and Ashwani Kumar, in the recent past, Azad wrote a five page no holds barred letter to the Congress president detailing his grievances.
Ending his over five decade association with the party, including from its primary membership, the 73-year-old said the party had “lost both the will and ability under the tutelage of the coterie” running the affairs of the party to fight for what is right for India.
The Congress said the move was unfortunate and the timing awful, coming at a time the party is engaged in combating the BJP on issues of price rise and unemployment.