Ghulam Nabi Azad was consulted on revamp of party’s J&K unit, say Congress sources

Assertion comes a day after Azad declined to head the Congress’ campaign committee for J&K

Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad was consulted before revamping the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) unit, a senior party leader said on Wednesday to counter reports that Mr. Azad was not consulted for the process.

The assertion came a day after Mr. Azad declined to head the Congress’ campaign committee for J&K and is said to have formally sent in his resignation to party chief Sonia Gandhi.

Also read: Ghulam Nabi Azad declines offer to head Congress’ J&K campaign committee

Sources close to Mr. Azad, who is a key leader of the G-23 or the party’s ginger group that’s pushing for internal reforms, have said his suggestion for a consensus candidate for the PCC chief was ignored in favour of someone who is known to former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

However, the senior party leader cited above countered such views and said there were multiple rounds of consultations with Mr. Azad before finalising the reconstituted team and that the last such consultation took place a month ago.

On Tuesday, Ms. Sonia Gandhi named Mr. Azad as the party’s campaign committee chief for the Union Territory of J&K in anticipation of Assembly polls soon.

But a day after the Congress veteran’s refusal to steer the campaign in J&K, in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, another G-23 leader and party veteran Anand Sharma was named a member of the Pradesh Election Committee in the election-bound State, along with State unit chief Pratibha Singh, Congress Legislative Party leader Mukesh Agnihotri, and former PCC chiefs Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Kuldeep Rathore.