Ghulam Nabi Azad camp upset at Tariq Hameed Karra's elevation in Congress: Sources

Amid the revamp in the Congress' J&K unit, sources in the party told Republic TV that the Ghulam Nabi Azad camp is upset at the elevation of Tariq Hameed Karra. A former Minister in the J&K government, Karra quit as a Lok Sabha MP in 2016 and switched allegiance from PDP to Congress in February 2017. A day earlier, he was appointed the chairman and vice chairman of the Political Affairs Committee and Campaign Committee of J&K Congress respectively. The rift came to the fore when Azad refused to assume the post of Campaign Committee chairman. 

Speaking to Republic TV, Tariq Hameed Karra said, "I don't understand. What are they (Azad camp) not happy about? I have no idea. You can only ask them the reason for their unhappiness. The party decides who gets what role. This is not about satisfaction or dissatisfaction. It is a matter of discipline within the party". While former MLAs Gulzar Ahmed Wani and Choudhary Mohd Akram resigned from the Pradesh Election Committee, another ex-legislator Haji Abdul Rashid Dar quit as the primary member of the party. 

Ghulam Nabi Azad's fractured relationship with Congress

Incidentally, Ghulam Nabi Azad is one of the 23 senior Congress leaders who wrote to Sonia Gandhi in August 2020 regarding the uncertainty over the leadership and the drift in the party. The letter reportedly mentioned many suggestions such as the need for a full-time leadership available at the national and state headquarters, conducting elections at all levels including the Congress Working Committee and state level, the formation of an Independent Election Authority, and institutional leadership mechanism to guide the party's revival. In February 2021, the ex-J&K CM also faced protests for praising PM Modi.

Heaping praises on PM Modi in his address on February 28, 2021, Azad said, "I like a lot of good things about many leaders. I come from a village and I am very proud of it. Our Prime Minister also admits that he comes from a village, and even though we are against each other in politics, but he doesn't hide his reality, his roots. If you try and hide your reality, then you are living in a false world."

The infighting in Congress spilled over to J&K as the leaders close to the ex-CM quit their party positions in November 2021. Speculation about his closeness to the ruling dispensation also gained traction after he was conferred with Padma Bhushan, India's 3rd highest civilian award. While Azad was nominated to the Rajya Sabha again, he has denied the possibility of quitting the party and continues to be a member of the CWC.