Jammu Kashmir: Ex-Ministers Return to Congress in Major Setback for Azad’s DPAP

JAMMU: In a significant setback for Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party, two former ministers – Jugal Kishore Sharma and Abdul Majid Wani – returned to the Congress on Wednesday along with hundreds of their supporters. Former MLCs Subash Gupta and Brij Mohan Sharma also rejoined the party during a function in Jammu marking the 108th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The leaders had quit the Congress in 2022 to join Azad’s newly launched outfit. They were formally welcomed back by the national general secretary and J&K in-charge Syed Naseer Hussain, Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Hameed Karra and AICC general secretary G A Mir.

Both Sharma and Wani had unsuccessfully contested the last assembly elections from the Vaishno Devi and Doda constituencies. Party leaders said Azad did not campaign vigorously for his candidates, citing poor health at the time.

Sharma earlier served as a minister in the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led PDP–Congress coalition from 2000 to 2005 and again in the Azad-led government from 2005 to 2008. Wani was also inducted as a minister in the Azad government. Their return marks a near-complete homecoming of senior leaders who had left the Congress with Azad over the past two years. Congress leaders said the process has accelerated after the DPAP’s poor showing in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections last year.

Addressing the gathering, Sharma said the Congress remained committed to secularism and allowed its leaders space to express their views. He criticised what he called “religion-based politics” and said personal faith should not be used to seek votes. Paying tribute to Indira Gandhi, he vowed to strengthen the party at the grass-roots level.

The rejoining of Sharma, Wani, Gupta and Brij Mohan Sharma had been anticipated since Wednesday, when senior party functionaries confirmed their decision to return. Congress leaders said the move amounted to a “homecoming”, noting that many of Azad’s loyalists – including former deputy chief minister Tara Chand, former PCC chief Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed and former ministers Ghulam Mohammad Saroori and Taj Mohiuddin – had also made their way back earlier.

Party insiders claimed that the entry of several of these leaders before the last assembly elections had been blocked by what they described as “internal sabotage” by a few senior figures in Jammu and Kashmir who were hoping to secure ministerial positions in the event of a Congress-National Conference government. The high command’s later decision not to join an NC-led ministry, they said, left those expectations unfulfilled. Some leaders now believe that allowing these returnees to contest earlier may have helped the party secure at least three to four additional seats in Jammu instead of just Rajouri.

Sharma, a two-time minister from Katra-Mata Vaishno Devi in Reasi district, and Wani, a two-time minister from Doda, are both regarded as strong faces in their constituencies. Gupta, a former MLC from Hiranagar who also served as DDC chairperson of Kathua, is similarly influential in his district. With Brij Mohan Sharma’s return, the party expects to consolidate its position in Udhampur as well.