State Congress in-charge Rajni Patil and Vikar Rasool Wani, who reached Jammu for the first time after becoming the state president, have been dealt a big blow by senior Congress leaders of Jammu division. Five former MLAs, including the former deputy chief minister of Congress, have resigned from all posts along with 50 party leaders. With this, so far more than three thousand senior Congress leaders and former MLAs have submitted their resignation letters to the party high command and state president in support of former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Congress leaders who resigned on Tuesday include former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, former minister Abdul Majit Wani, former MLA from Bilawar Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma, former MLA Balwan Singh, former MLA Chaudhary Garu Ram. Apart from this, party leaders also submitted their resignations on Tuesday. GM Saroori, a pro-Azad, claims that so far about three thousand leaders, workers, members of Panchayat and District Development Council and local bodies have given their support to Ghulam Nabi Azad.
On Tuesday, after five former Congress MLAs and ministers resigned, alleging that former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was not getting due respect in the party. In his resignation letter sent to party president Sonia Gandhi , he said that due to lack of leadership in Jammu and Kashmir , we are all resigning. Everyone is angry with the way the party has neglected the issues in Jammu and Kashmir. Senior party leader Rahul Gandhi is putting his select people on the posts.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand said that the people of Jammu are facing problems at this time. Inflation and unemployment are on the rise. The central government had promised to provide employment to two crore people every year but failed to fulfill it. Development works were neglected in Jammu and Kashmir. The projects which were started during the time of Congress also could not be completed. The Congress has also not been able to play the role of the opposition properly. We saw that the Congress leadership is not functioning properly in the country and in Jammu and Kashmir , we asked Azad to come forward and form a new party.
The way the Congress was weak in Jammu and Kashmir in 2002, but Azad Saheb strengthened it by coming here and after becoming the Chief Minister, did many historical works in Jammu and Kashmir. Now once again he was asked by everyone in Jammu and Kashmir to form a new party and fulfill the demands of the people. He said that any hearing was taking place in our party for the last two years. That’s why we decided to leave the party.