Jammu: A week after he left the Congress with a blistering attack on Rahul Gandhi, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir will decide the name of his new party. He was addressing his first political rally after snapping his five-decade-long association with Congress in Jammu.
"I've not decided upon a name for my party yet. The people of Jammu and Kashmir will decide the name and the flag for the party. I'll give a Hindustani name to my party that everyone can understand," said Azad. "My party will focus on -the restoration of full statehood, right to land and employment to native domicile," he added.
Taking a dig at Congress Azad said "People from Congress now go to jail in buses, they call DGP, Commissioners, get their name written and leave within an hour. That is the reason Congress has been unable to grow."
Without naming Rahul, Azad took a dig at him and his Twitter reach. "Congress was made by us by our blood and sweat, not by computers, not by tweets. People trying to defame us but their reach is limited to computers and tweets," Azad said at the rally.
Without directly naming his detractors in grand old party Azad accused them of trying to malign his image."Congress was made by us by our blood, not by computers, not by Twitter. People are trying to defame us but their reach is limited to computers & tweets. That is the reason Congress is nowhere to be seen on the ground," he said.
Also read: Without mass base in J&K, can Azad survive his biggest political test?
Earlier Azad has that the first unit of his party will be formed in Jammu and Kashmir in view of impending assembly polls. Azad has been Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008.
Notably, Rahul Gandhi and a string of party leaders will also hold a 'Mehangai Par Halla Bol' rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi today. With Azad signalling that he will float a new party, several leaders have resigned from the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand are among 64 leaders who have resigned from the Congress. Over 36 Congress leaders including leaders of the National Students' Union of India, the youth wing of the Congress party, from various universities in Jammu have submitted their resignations in solidarity with Azad.
According to sources, the leaders submitted their resignations to Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi. The General Secretary of NSUI-J&K unit, Manik Sharma in his resignation letter said, "I support resignation of Ghulam Nabi Azad from Congress party. I am fed up with the favouritism in the party. The work of ground-level workers doesn't matter in the party. This is the reason why we failed in 90 per cent of the elections."
In his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi, Azad had targeted party leadership, particularly Rahul Gandhi, over the way the party has been run in the past nearly nine years. In the hard-hitting five-page letter, Azad had claimed that a coterie runs the party while Sonia Gandhi was just "a nominal head" and all the major decisions were taken by "Rahul Gandhi or rather worse his security guards and PAs".
Azad had said he was submitting his resignation with "great regret and an extremely leaden heart" and severing his 50-year association with the Congress. He was earlier Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.
Recounting his long association with the Congress, Azad had said the situation in the party has reached a point of "no return." While Azad took potshots at Sonia Gandhi in the letter, his sharpest attack was on Rahul Gandhi and he described the Wayand MP as "non-serious individual" and "immature".
