Asserting that he had not retired from politics, Congress leader and former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Friday said that if he had to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he would have done so during the former prime minister and BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s times.
Brushing aside all rumours of his joining BJP that spread after Prime Minister Narendra Modi wept on his retirement from the parliament, Azad while addressing the Congress leaders and workers at the party office at Shaheedi Chowk said, “I have only retired from the parliament, not politics. Had this been the case, I would have joined BJP during Vajpayee’s time.”
Earlier, on his arrival in Jammu where he is on a three-day visit, Azad was given a rousing welcome by Congress leaders and workers at Satwari Airport.
In the evening, chairing a meeting of Congress leaders at the party headquarters, he said that he would continue his efforts to strengthen the party throughout the country including Jammu and Kashmir.
Ruling out any differences in the party at any level, Azad said that there could be differences of perception but not difference of the goal.