Mir resigns as J&K Cong chief
SRINAGAR: : Ahead of the polls that are likely in J& K and would be the first election after the erstwhile state became UT, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Ghulam Ahmad Mir has resigned from the post.
While Congress sources said that Mir, who has been president of J& K Congress since 2015, was asked to quit, Mir said he has offered to resign from his post ahead of the polls so that the party can rejig its organisation in the UT.
“In my letter addressed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, I have offered to resign from my post. It has been done voluntarily so the party could take decisions vis- à- vis J& K ahead of the assembly elections. My resignation could be accepted or the party president could ask me to continue on my post,” Mir said.
Recently, Congress appointed senior leader Raman Bhalla from Jammu as its working president to keep a balance of power between the two regions of the UT. Bhalla, a former minister, has a good support base in urban Jammu though he lost the assembly elections in 2014.
Sources in the party said several names are in consideration for the new party president. Names of former ministers and legislators Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Vikar Rasool, GM Saroori and Ghulam Nabi Monga are under consideration for the post of party’s new J&K president. While Sayeed had remained as party president in the past, Vikar and Saroori who are from Muslim belts of Jammu are considered close to former J&K chief minister and senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. Monga, who has been associated with the party from his youthful days, has served as a legislator and is considered a politician with a clean image. Party leaders privy to details said that any leader could emerge as a dark horse. In the last assembly, Congress suffered several setbacks, especially in the Jammu region. However, the party leaders have suggested to the high command that the new leader should be a consensus candidate who will be acceptable to all the leaders and should have a clean image.
Earlier, the party high command had offered Ghulam Nabi Azad the post of JKPCC president which he declined.