Notwithstanding claims of the J&K Congress chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir to placate 'annoyed' leaders, loyalists of Ghulam Nabi Azad continued to submit their resignations from posts and positions of the Congress party.
After the en-mass resignations of 28 senior leaders including former ministers and ex-legislators last week, almost the entire Udhampur unit of the Congress has resigned as a mark to protest against the style of functioning of J&K Congress chief Mir.
Those who resigned from the posts and positions of the party are known loyalists of the former leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Udhampur Congress chief Ashwani Khajuria, Mahila Congress chief Priti Khajuria, Shakil Ahmed Shah, Ashok Kumar Sharma, Narayan Dutt, Sudesh Khajuria, and many other leaders have submitted their resignations.
Instead of submitting their resignations to Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir, these leaders have directly mailed their resignations to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, and AICC general secretary in-charge of J&K, Rajni Patil.
Ask high command to party's hand over command to Azad
Although Ghulam Nabi Azad has repeatedly clarified that he has nothing to do with the en-mass resignations of his loyalists, dissidents have asked Congress leadership to hand over command to Azad to fight coming assembly elections in J&K.
Like other rebels, who submitted their resignations last week, Congress leaders from Udhampur also demanded that the Jammu region should be given the opportunity to lead the Congress in J&K. Ashwani Khajuria and Priti Khajuria mentioned that only Ghulam Nabi Azad can take all leaders together and provide effective leadership at this crucial time.
Dissidents reminded that it was only under the leadership of Ghulam Nabi Azad that Congress was revived in the year 2002 when the party had formed a coalition with PDP.
J&K Congress president downplays mass resignation of Azad loyalists
J&K Congress chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir has downplayed en-mass resignations of Azad loyalists.
Interacting with media persons at Udhampur, Mir said that those who have resigned from posts and positions of Congress were already inactive in the party.
"Except capturing posts they were doing nothing for the party. Rather they were stumbling blocks in the growth of the Congress party because these leaders were sitting in their homes despite having responsibilities of the party", Mir said.
He, however, claimed that the Congress party was successfully retrieving its lost ground in J&K in general and Jammu province in particular. He claimed that the ongoing 'Jan Jagran Abhiyan' of the party has received an overwhelming response of the people.
Earlier over two dozen Azad loyalists quitted party posts
To mount pressure on the high command to give the party's command to Azad for the coming assembly elections in J&K, already over dozen leaders have quit the party's posts and positions.
Prominent among those, who have resigned, included G M Saroori, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Vikar Rasool, Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma, (all former ministers) Ghulam Nabi Monga, Naresh Gupta, Subash Gupta, Amin Bhat, Anwar Bhat, Inayat Ali, and others.
