Prominent DPAP leaders likely to join Congress, talks in final stages
Prominent leaders likely to switch include former assembly members Gulzar Wani and Amin Bhat, and former ministers Taj Mohi-ud-Din and Ghulam Mohammad Saroori
Many leaders currently or previously associated with Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) are all set to join the Congress, with the talks for the switch in the final stages, party insiders in know the matter said.
They said the prominent leaders likely to switch include former assembly members Gulzar Wani and Amin Bhat, and former ministers Taj Mohi-ud-Din and Ghulam Mohammad Saroori. All four leaders lost in the assembly elections last year. While Wani and Bhat contested on DPAP tickets, Taj Mohi-ud-Din and Saroori contested as Independents.
J&K Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra said the leaders who left Azad were in touch with them. “We have discussed the issue with the high command and talks are underway. We will make a decision after taking each case into consideration. Due to a busy schedule from both sides, the decision has been delayed,” he added.
DPAP chairperson Azad said that some leaders who claim they are leaving DPAP have already left the party and even contested elections. “I have left Congress forever, and can’t go back to that party,” he said.
Taj Mohi-ud-Din, who was treasurer of the DPAP before the assembly polls, had resigned from the party.
All four were prominent Congress leaders before they joined former J&K chief minister Azad’s party, formed in 2022. The DPAP, which contested the assembly elections on 25 seats last year, could not open its account. Most of the contestants could not save their security deposits. The party has since been largely inactive, with its leaders going as far as claiming that Ghulam Nabi Azad has ‘lost interest’ in his party.
“After getting clearance from the party high command, they will be inducted into the party. They are all former Congress leaders who switched after Azad formed a party. They have realised that it was a waste of time,” said a senior Congress leader, requesting not to be named.
Azad formed the DPAP in September 2022, ending his five-decade association with the Congress. The DPAP was eyeing itself as an alternative to regional parties such as the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party.
The DPAP could not gain any ground in its two electoral outings, losing all three seats it contested in the Lok Sabha polls before the assembly elections.
