Internal rifts within the regional units across the country have been posing headaches for the Congress party. Now, it also has to worry about a major crisis that has erupted in its Jammu and Kashmir unit. Over a dozen party leaders in J&K Congress, who are reportedly close to former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, have resigned from the party posts. Not just that, the leaders who resigned have also voiced concerns with regard to the functioning of the party.
According to media reports, leaders shot off a joint resignation letter to party president Sonia Gandhi. In the letter, the leaders expressed non-confidence in the leadership of J&K unit chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir. The alleged Azad loyalists have demanded a complete overhaul of the state party unit. Among the leaders who have submitted their resignations include former MLAs and ministers like GM Saroori, Manohar Lal Sharma, Naresh Gupta, Vikar Rasool Wani, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Ghulam Nabi Monga, Amin Bhat, Anwar Bhat and Subash Gupta.
The leaders claimed that they had been demanding a change in the leadership in the state for the last seven years. However, the party leadership in New Delhi had done nothing to address the demands, the leaders added. Already, some 200 party functionaries have resigned from the Congress in recent times.
Incidentally, the Azad is one among the 23 senior Congress leaders who wrote to Sonia in August last year demanding sweeping internal changes. The G-23, as the group is now known, has demanded elections to the party president post and the Congress Working Committee besides seeking full-time leadership at the national and state headquarters. The J&K resignations could not come at a worse for Congress. Even as the party is already dealing with internal crises in states like Punjab and Rajasthan. the resignations dent Congress preparations with regard to the forthcoming assembly elections in five states early next year.