Srinagar:

With the jailed Engineer Rashid entering the Lok Sabha poll fray in Kashmir, it was time for former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to return the favour for a Rajya Sabha election vote in 2015.

Mr Azad’s outfit in Jammu and Kashmir – the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) – on Thursday announced its support for Rashid, who is contesting as an Independent candidate from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in North Kashmir.

Arrested in 2019 in a terror funding case, Abdul Rashid Sheikh – popularly known as Engineer Rashid – heads the regional Awami Ittehad Party and had voted for Mr Azad during the 2015 Rajya Sabha elections. He was an MLA from the Lagate assembly seat in the erstwhile state.

Mr Rashid filed his nomination from Tihar Jail to contest from Baramulla, which goes to the polls on May 20.

“Engineer Rashid is innocent and people want him out of jail. He has always fought for the people’s cause. So, this is injustice,” said Taj Mohiuddin, the party’s treasurer and its North Kashmir in-charge, while announcing the decision.

Mr Mohiuddin said the decision was taken after the jailed leader’s son, Abrar Rashid, made an appeal to Mr Azad, seeking support for his father’s candidature.

“Engineer Rashid has consistently fought for the people. Therefore, we feel it’s important to stand by someone who has made sacrifices,” he added.

Mr Rashid, who contested the 2014 assembly elections as an Independent candidate from Langate in North Kashmir, is in jail in a terror-funding case.

The case, the chargesheet for which has since been filed, names Hafiz Saeed, chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa – a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit – as an accused.

The former MLA was also named by Syed Naveed Mushtaq Ahmad alias Naveed alias Babu, a commander of the banned Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

Naveed was arrested along with Davinder Singh, who was dismissed as deputy superintendent of the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

Naveed claimed during interrogation that he had been in constant touch with the former legislator for establishing a firm base for the terror group in North Kashmir and was looking for possible hideouts in that area, officials alleged.

Rashid was first the mainstream politician to be arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with a case related to the funding of terror activities in Kashmir.

His name had reportedly cropped up during the interrogation of businessman Zahoor Watali, arrested by the NIA for allegedly supplying money to terror groups and separatists in the Valley.

The NIA registered the case against separatist and secessionist leaders, including unknown members of the Hurriyat Conference, who were acting in connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organisations Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other outfits and gangs in 2016.

The case was registered for raising, receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means, including hawala, for funding separatist and terror activities in the erstwhile state and causing disruption in the Valley by pelting security forces with stones, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India, the probe agency said in the FIR.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Sangaldan (Ramban):

Refuting the claims that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is putting up a “brave fight” against the BJP, Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said that his actions suggest otherwise and alleged Gandhi is “hesitant” to contest from the BJP-ruled states.

He further alleged that Mr Gandhi seeks refuge in states with considerably high minority population.

Mr Azad took a dig at Gandhi and National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah, referring to them as “spoon-fed kids” rather than politicians, and said that both have done nothing on their own.

“Why is Rahul Gandhi hesitant to contest in the BJP-ruled states? While Rahul Gandhi claims to be fighting the BJP, his actions suggest otherwise. Why fly from the BJP-ruled states and seek refuge in minority-dominated ones?” Mr Azad said while addressing public meetings in Sangaldan, Ukhral areas of the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency.

Mr Azad, who is campaigning in support of his party candidate G M Saroori, criticised the party for what he called “reluctance” to engage in direct confrontations and a “tendency to seek out safe seats” where minority populations are sizeable.

He questioned the party’s commitment to fighting the BJP on the ground, accusing it of preferring “safe seats” in states like Kerala.

Mr Azad, who was once close to the Nehru-Gandhi family, said that Gandhi and Abdullah are “spoon-fed kids” rather than politicians. “They have not made personal sacrifices in life and are merely enjoying political legacies inherited from figures like Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Abdullah. Both have done nothing on their own,” he added.

“Abdullah is campaigning in the Chenab valley against the DPAP, not the BJP. He has been tasked to divide the secular votes. He did nothing for his own constituency,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ghulam Nabi Azad, chief of Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) and former Congress leader, will not contest the Lok Sabha elections, his party has said. Mr Azad was expected to contest from the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir.

The contest in Anantnag was expected to be his first test of popularity in Jammu and Kashmir since he quit the Congress in 2022.

On April 2, the DPAP announced that Azad will contest from the Anantnag-Rajouri seat.

Today, the DPAP said Mr Azad has some reasons not to contest — though the party did not make them public.

DPAP’s provincial president, Kashmir, Mohammad Amin Bhat said he gave “some reasons” at a internal meeting. The party then took the decision to field Mohammad Saleem Parray from the seat.

Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference senior leader Mian Altaf will now face off from the Anantnag-Rajouri seat.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference chief Omar Abdullah has accused Mr Azad of carrying out a BJP script.

Mr Azad has “got instructions from the BJP,” he told reporters last week, when the former Congress leader indicated that hemight not contest in the upcoming polls.

“His party announced and it is quite ingenious on trying to back out and say he hasn’t made up his mind,” Mr Abdullah had said.

Jammu:

Democratic Progressive Azad Party chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad has been elected to the Rajya Sabha twice with National Conference’s help and the difference in the “ferocity” of his attacks towards the NC and the BJP showed the leader’s “agenda”, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Monday.

Mr Abdullah, responding to the recent attacks by Mr Azad on the National Conference (NC), asked if the DPAP leader had forgotten all previous “help” provided by the NC.

“I would like the same party (Azad’s DPAP) to attack BJP with half the ferocity they attack us. It tells you their agenda. Everyone knows what it means to them when Azad praises the prime minister and criticises Farooq Abdullah sahib.

“Instead, Farooq Abdullah sent him twice to the Rajya Sabha when his own party was not interested in sending him to the Rajya Sabha”, Omar Abdullah told reporters here in response to Azad’s remarks on the NC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during his election rallies.

Taking another dig at him, Omar Abdullah questioned Mr Azad whether he had forgotten the time when he used to call to remove PDP’s Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in 2005. Azad enjoyed power with us, the NC vice president said.

“He reached the Rajya Sabha because of our members. How his wife Shameema Ji wept while calling Dr Farooq Abdullah sahib that you gave a new lease of life in politics to Azad sahib. Has he forgotten everything? Time has changed. He has also changed,” he said.

Omar Abdullah said that Mr Azad should not forget that he was in the Rajya Sabha for 12 years due to the NC. “He is enjoying the house in which he lives today because of us,” the NC leader said.

On the central government’s plans to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act before the general elections, Omar Abdullah asked, “Why have they not brought it till now. What are they waiting for? Why don’t they come out with the notification on the reservation of Paharis too? We want to know how you are going to implement it. Who are you including in Paharis? What you are saying in terms of reservation won’t benefit Paharis. It is to deceive them before elections to get their votes.” He made the remarks shortly before the Union Home Ministry notified rules for the CAA on Monday.

To a question on the electoral bonds issue, the former chief minister said those who have “control” over the SBI are being “protected”.

“Who has taken the highest electoral bonds? Who is to be saved? They will not protect those who have taken the lowest bonds. They don’t want to inform people how many bonds have been taken by a particular party. Who has control over SBI. I and the INDIA alliance do not have that control,” he said.

“The good thing is that the Supreme Court has rejected their argument. They have told them to submit information by March 12. We will also come to know who has got what. We got very little. We have not even come on the list of ECI,” he said.

When asked about resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, Omar Abdullah said it was “not just up to India but also on the other side” to start talks.

“Let us see how the situation develops. BJP will find itself in its own trap. If J&K is normal, why can’t you talk to Pakistan. If you don’t talk to Pakistan, it means things aren’t normal,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) president Ghulam Nabi Azad addresses the public rally in Anantnag. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chief Ghulam Nabi Azad on March 9 said Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir should be held soon after the Lok Sabha election as the people of the Union Territory cannot wait anymore. He also said Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood would be restored.

Also read: Altering status quo: On Jammu and Kashmir and Statehood 

“We have been waiting for the Assembly polls for years. We hope that the polls take place immediately after the parliamentary election. I think the people of Jammu and Kashmir cannot wait anymore now,” Mr. Azad told reporters after a public meeting in the Chittergul area of this south Kashmir district.

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, however, described the upcoming visit of Election Commission (EC) officials to the region as “routine”. “It is the job of the EC to visit States. This is not something new that they are visiting here. The EC starts preparing for elections months before in a State. This is routine,” he said.

The former Union Minister said Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood would be restored.

He took a dig at National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah over the latter’s remarks on Mr. Azad targeting his father, NC president Farooq Abdullah. Mr. Azad had recently said NC leaders meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi after dark. “I do not know under what influence did Ghulam Nabi Azad target Farooq Abdullah,” Omar Abdullah told a press conference in Srinagar on March 8.

Mr. Azad said those who go on vacations for months together should not question him. “I am in my senses 24 hours a day. Only those people do not remain in their senses who have time to take holidays. I do not go on vacations. I do not have time to take a holiday. For the first time in 18 months, I went to Gulmarg for half a day because a meeting was cancelled. Those leaders, who are on vacation for months together, what can they say?” he asked.

Asked about the split in the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), the former Congress leader said it was the concern of the constituent parties and “I have nothing to say about that”. To a question on whether the split in the PAGD would benefit political parties like the BJP, Azad said people are clever and they understand which party or candidate to vote for. “So it remains to be seen who will benefit or not benefit from it,” he added.

Asked whether he would contest the Lok Sabha elections, likely to be held in April-May, from the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, Azad said he has not decided yet.