Ghulam Nabi Azad

Raut quoted Gandhi as saying that he had requested senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to take charge of the Congress' Jammu & Kashmir unit after his Rajya Sabha term expired, but the latter refused.

Though Azad, the former Rajya Sabha member of parliament (MP), has clarified that he has no plans to launch another party, his political moves in his home state have generated a lot of curiosity, more so because of his at-odds relationship with the Congress since he was part of the dissident 'G-23' group in 2020.

In an interview to News18, Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad says the leadership is not as “flexible” as it used to be, adding that the party’s decline is there “for everyone to see”.

The party sources said Sonia Gandhi has already indicated that the meeting of the CWC will be convened soon and internal issues will be debated.

A prominent member of Congress' group of 23 dissenters (G-23), Azad was in May appointed as head of the 13-member Congress party task force to coordinate COVID-19 relief, a move seen as an attempt to reach out to the dissenting leader by party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi.

We are political rivals, but I appreciate that he doesn't hide his true self. Those who do, are living in bubble, said Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Former Congress MP Raj Babbar said the G-23 group - an informal reference to the 23 senior Congress leaders who had marked their dissent over the party's functioning in a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi last year - is committed to the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi and has the sole agenda of strengthening the Congress.

Azad, whose term as Rajya Sabha member expires on February 15, has been a member of the upper house for 28 years. He was a member of Lok Sabha for 10 years and was member of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir assembly for three years when he was the chief minister.

The Prime Minister turned emotional when he recalled a call by Ghulam Nabi Azad to him when Gujarati tourists were killed in Kashmir in a blast in 2007. Both Azad and Modi were chief ministers then.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was the senior-most among the 23 letter writers demanding an organisational overhaul in the Congress, said they are raising issues as "reformists and not rebels".

"I have tested positive for COVID-19. I am in home quarantine. Those who came in contact with me in the last few days may kindly follow the protocol," Azad said in a tweet.

The opposition parties have boycotted Parliament proceedings against alleged violation of procedures by the government while passing the farm bills.

Loyalists get promoted and dissidents are ignored as Congress president Sonia Gandhi makes new appointments in both houses of Parliament.

Azad alleged that there was no development ever since it was bifurcated into Union territories and deprived of statehood, contrary to the claims made by the BJP-led Centre.

In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court on Friday said access to Internet is a fundamental right under Article 19 of the Constitution and asked the Jammu and Kashmir administration to review within a week all orders imposing curbs in the Union Territory.

He also accused the BJP-led central government of being responsible for "death of expectations" of people of Jammu and Kashmir by removing Article 370 and downgrading the status of the state.

His three earlier bids to reach Srinagar had failed as he had been turned back from the airport by the authorities

Ghulam Nabi Azad said he has filed the plea in his personal capacity and that it is apolitical

Besides, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will abstain from voting in Rajya Sabha on the contentious bill, party MP Vandana Chavan said

He also alleged that the BJP-led government has started issuing certificate of nationalism and question the patriotism of any one on the basis of religion and caste and said "the politics of polarization is suicidal for the strength of our nation".