News Analysis India

Tag: Kashmir Congress

  • Jammu & Kashmir Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh quits party, cites disconnect

    By Express News Service

    SRINAGAR: In a setback to Congress, senior party leader Vikramaditya Singh, who is son of veteran Congress leader Karan Singh and grandson of last Dogra ruler of Jammu & Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh, on Tuesday resigned from the Congress saying the party is disconnected with the ground realities and unable to reflect sentiments and aspirations of J&K people.

    In his resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Singh said, “It is my belief that the Congress is unable to realise and reflect the sentiments and aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir.” He also tweeted the copy of his resignation letter.

    Singh, who had unsuccessfully contested against senior BJP leader and Union minister Jitendra Singh from Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat in 2019 parliamentary elections, said his position on critical issues vis-à-vis Jammu & Kashmir, which reflect national interests, do not align with that of the Congress party. 

    Singh’s resignation comes as a big jolt to the Congress as he was a prominent face of the party in Jammu region.

    He is weighing his political options and there is a possibility that he may join the BJP. He was among the first Congress leaders in Jammu to welcome the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A. His younger brother Ajatshatru Singh is a senior BJP leader in J&K.

    Singh had joined the Congress in 2018. In October 2017, he had resigned from PDP and as MLC over differences with the party after the Mehbooba Mufti government did not declare a government holiday on the birthday of his grandfather (the last Maharaja of J&K).

  • Jammu & Kashmir Congress leaders close to Ghulam Nabi Azad sends resignation letters

    Express News Service

    SRINAGAR:  In a major jolt to Jammu and Kashmir Congress, about a dozen senior leaders including former ministers and legislators loyal to Ghulam Nabi Azad have revolted against the unit chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir and resigned demanding a change in guard.

    Party sources said that leaders GM Saroori, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Vikar Rasool, Dr Manohar Lal Sharma, Ghulam Nabi Monga, Naresh Gupta, Subash Gupta, Amin Bhat, Anwar Bhat, Inayat Ali and others in a joint statement to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi have submitted their resignation from party positions.

    Those who have resigned belong both to Kashmir and Jammu and all of them are close to former J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. They have maintained that they are leaving the party. In the letter to Sonia, the leaders have alleged that under Mir, Congress is heading towards a disastrous situation and over 200 leaders, including former ministers, MLAs, MLCs, PCC office-bearers, district presidents and AICC Members have left for other parties.

    The leaders informed that they have been requesting the high command for long to change the J&K Congress president but no heed was paid.

    “Mir has been a total disaster for the party. He has been the president of the J&K unit of Congress for about seven years. Normally a person heads the party unit in a single term for two years (maximum three years),” said J&K Congress senior vice-president Monga. He made it clear they are not leaving the party. “We are Congress by heart and won’t leave the party,” asserted Monga.

  • Two retired bureaucrats bureaucrats join Congress in Jammu & Kashmir

    By PTI
    JAMMU: Two retired bureaucrats on Thursday joined the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) here, a party spokesperson said.

    Former deputy director animal husbandry AC Bhagat and former deputy director information MR Sangra, who are both prominent social activists, joined the Congress in presence of JKPCC chief GA Mir and other senior party leaders, the spokesperson said.

    Welcoming them, Mir expressed hope that they would work to strengthen the party.

    Attacking the BJP-led government at the centre, the JKPCC chief alleged that the Centre has failed to “fulfil even a single commitment” made to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and “instead brought miseries for the common man due to its wrong policies”. “The achievement of this government is that the divisive forces have succeeded in vitiating the atmosphere of peace and harmony in the country,” he said.

    “There is a hue and cry everywhere and nobody feels secure under the present regime,” he added. Expressing their faith in the party, the new entrants said only the Congress can lead the country to prosperity and development.

    The former bureaucrats said they were impressed with the working and secular approach of the party and expressed faith in the leadership of party president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi.