Jammu: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday announced that his new political outfit will be named as ‘Democratic Azad Party’. The development comes exactly a month after Azad resigned from the Congress party. Azad also unveiled the flag of the Democratic Azad Party. The flag has three colours – mustard, white and blue.
Announcing the name of the new party at a press conference here, Azad said that the outfit will be secular, democratic and independent from any influence. Yesterday, Azad held meetings with his workers and leaders. Earlier, Azad, in his first public meeting in Jammu after quitting Congress, had announced to launch of his own political outfit that will focus on the restoration of full statehood. He had said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir would decide the party’s name and flag.
‘I’ve not decided upon a name for my party yet. The people of J-K will decide the party’s name and flag. I’ll give a Hindustani name to my party that everyone can understand’, he said at the rally after breaking away from his five-decade-long association with the grand old party. ‘My party will focus on the restoration of full statehood, right to land, and employment to native domicile’, he added then.
Azad said that the first unit of his political outfit would be formed in Jammu and Kashmir in view of impending assembly polls. ‘My party will focus on the restoration of full statehood, right to land, and employment to native domicile’, he added. He lashed out at Congress and said that people are trying to defame us (me and my supporters who left the party) but their reach is limited to computer tweets. Azad said, ‘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 and tweets. That is why Congress is nowhere to be seen on the ground’. The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said in his first public meeting at Sainik Colony in Jammu.
Azad has been Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008. In his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi, he 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’. 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 a ‘non-serious individual’ and ‘immature’.
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