NEW DELHI: The Congress is baffled over Ghulam Nabi Azad’s refusal to accept the position of the chairman of the 11-member campaign committee for Jammu and Kashmir, which was offered to him on Tuesday. He was also nominated to the political affairs committee, to be headed by Tariq Hameed Karra, for the union territories.
According to party functionaries, Karra’s appointment as the chairman of the panel upset Azad, especially since he was expecting that the party will nominate him as the chief ministerial candidate in the UT. A party leader said perhaps Azad was not consulted on the appointments or informed about it in advance. He added that Karra is junior to him and only a permanent invitee in the Congress Working Committee while Azad is a full-member.
However, a CWC member said Azad was kept in the loop and most names approved by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi were recommended by him.
“Azad has been attending the party meetings held on Jammu and Kashmir. He has even recommended the names for appointments in the panels. Vikar Rasool Wani has been made president. Wani was on the top of the list of four names given to Sonia Gandhi. Maybe Azad wanted full-fledged control,” said the leader.