Ghulam Nabi Azad declines offer to head Congress’ J&K campaign committee

India

oi-Deepika S

Srinagar, Aug 16:
In
a
big
setback
for
Congress,
senior
party
leader
Ghulam
Nabi
Azad
resigned
as
the
chairman
of
the
newly
constituted
campaign
committee,
soon
after
he
was
appointed
to
the
post
by
party
president
Sonia
Gandhi.

“Ghulam
Nabi
Azad
has
refused
to
assume
the
post
of
Campaign
Committee
President
of
J&K
due
to
health
reasons.
He
has
conveyed
this
to
the
Congress
leadership
and
has
also
thanked
the
leadership
for
giving
him
the
responsibility,”
news
agency
ANI
reported
quoting
Congress
sources.

The
resignation
of
Azad,
one
of
the
group
of
23
leaders
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.
Mir
had
stepped
down
last
month.

Azad
is
a
prominent
member
of
the
G23
grouping
within
the
Congress
which
has
been
critical
of
the
leadership
and
has
been
seeking
an
organisational
overhaul.

Cong
appoints
Vikar
Rasool
Wani
its
J&K
chief;
Ghulam
Nabi
Azad
to
head
campaign
committee

Azad,
retired
from
the
Rajya
Sabha
and
was
the
outgoing
leader
of
opposition,
was
not
renominated
to
the
upper
house.

In
the
revamped
unit,
Raman
Bhalla
was
named
as
the
working
president
of
J&K
Congress
and
Azad
as
champaign
committee
chief,
with
former
PDP
leader
Tariq
Hamid
Karra
as
vice
chief
of
the
campaign
panel.
Hours
after
the
appointments
were
made
public,
sources
said
Azad
declined
to
accept
the
offer.

The
Centre
is
wanting
to
hold
assembly
elections
in
Jammu
and
Kashmir
soon
and
the
process
of
finalisation
of
electoral
rolls
is
underway
after
the
completion
of
the
delimitation
exercise.
Wani
replaces
Ghulam
Ahmad
Mir
who
had
tendered
his
resignation
in
July
after
holding
the
post
for
eight
years.

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

The
Congress
president
appointed
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.

Tariq
Hamid
Karra
will
be
the
vice
chairman
of
the
campaign
committee
headed
by
Azad,
while
G
M
Saroori
will
be
its
convenor,
according
to
the
statement.
The
campaign
committee
has
named
11
leaders
with
PCC
president
and
working
president
its
permanent
invitees.
Mir,
Tara
Chand,
Thakur
Balwan
Singh,
T
S
Bajwa,
Shabir
Khan,
Neeraj
Kundan,
Abdul
Majeed
Wani
and
Fairoz
Khan
are
also
part
of
the
campaign
committee.
Gandhi
also
set
up
a
political
affairs
committee
with
Karra
as
its
chairman
and
it
included
the
likes
of
Azad,
Mir
and
Saifuddin
Soz.

The Political Affairs Committee also includes Peerzada M Syed, Taj Mohiuddin, Tara Chand, Mula Ram and Khemlata Wakhlu. The committee comprises nine leaders with AICC in-charge, PCC president and working president being permanent invitees in the panel.

The
party
also
formed
an
11-member
coordination
committee
headed
by
Mir,
12-member
manifesto
committee
under
the
chairmanship
of
Soz
and
nine-member
publicity
and
publication
panel
led
by
Mula
Ram.
A
seven-member
disciplinary
committee
has
been
formed
with
Taj
Mohiyuddin
as
the
chairman.

A
Pradesh
Election
Committee
headed
by
PCC
chief
has
also
been
set
up.
The
Election
Commission
had
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.