Crisis In J&K Congress As Azad Loyalists Resign

Tension brewed in Jammu and Kashmir Congress on Wednesday after former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's loyalists resigned from the party posts expressing "displeasure" over the functioning of the state Congress.

According to sources, some of the leaders -- G.M. Saroori, Wiqar Rasool Wani, J. K. Sharma, M. L. Sharma, Naresh Gupta, Ghulam Nabi Monga, Subash Gupta, Amin Bhat and Anwar Bhat have sent their resignations to party president Sonia Gandhi and state in-charge Rajni Patil.

Sources close to Saroori said that there has been a long pending demand to change the incumbent Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee(JKPCC) president Ghulam Ahmad Mir.

The state leaders are miffed with Mir's style of functioning and his continuation in the post despite he and son losing the Lok Sabha and the District Development Council elections.

As per the sources, the resentment is also against the party's top leadership for neglecting the deterioration of the party in the union territory. The resignation letter reads, "Sycophants have captured and hijacked the functioning of the state Congress."

Mir is yet to respond to messages on the latest development in the party.

The Congress is already battling rifts in major states and the new political development in Jammu and Kashmir will add to its problems.