Guwahati: More than 50 top Congress figures, including Tara Chand, a former deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, quit the organisation in favour of Ghulam Nabi Azad, on Tuesday.
According to national media, the Congress leaders sent a letter of resignation to the party’s president Sonia Gandhi.
At a press conference, Chand and a number of other individuals, including former MLA Balwan Singh, former ministers Abdul Majid Wani, Manohar Lal Sharma, and Gharu Ram, declared their resignations from their party, including its primary membership.
“We have submitted a joint resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in support of Azad,” Balwan Singh said.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Azad, 73, ended his five-decade affiliation with the Congress on Friday, calling it completely wrecked and berating Rahul Gandhi for destroying the party’s entire consultation process.
He would shortly introduce a party at the national level from Jammu and Kashmir.
Hundreds of Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members, municipal corporators, district and block level leaders, as well as more than a dozen prominent Congress politicians—including former ministers and lawmakers—have already defected to Azad.