Ghulam Nabi Azad withdraws from Anantnag LS poll battle
Mir Ehsan
Veteran leader and former Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad will not contest the Lok Sabha elections from the newly redrawn Anantnag-Rajouri constituency, the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) said on Wednesday, naming advocate Saleem Parray as its candidate from the seat.
The decision was announced after Azad chaired a meeting of DPAP office-bearers at Khanbal in Anantnag, party’s Kashmir unit chief Mohammad Amin Bhat told reporters, without divulging the reason behind the decision.
“It was decided in the meeting that instead of Ghulam Nabi Azad, I will be contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Anantnag seat,” Parray, who is a district development council (DDC) member from Anantnag, said. “The decision was taken after consultation with all party leadchief
ers from south Kashmir.”
The constituency, which spreads across the Pir Panjal range to include Rajouri and Poonch areas in Jammu region along with Anantnag in south Kashmir after the delimitation, will go to polls on May 7 in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections.
Parray (40), who is a nephew of former legislator Amin Bhat, will square off against former minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti and senior National Conference leader Mian Altaf Ahmed, who holds considerable influence in the Gujjar and Pahari population on either side of the Pir Panjal range. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is yet to announce its candidate.
Azad (75), who formed the DPAP in September 2022 after ending his five-decade-long association with the Congress, was declared the party candidate on April 2, setting the stage for his first Lok Sabha battle since 2014, when he lost from Udhampur seat to Union minister Jitendra Singh of the BJP.
Azad was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1990 till 2006 and again from 2009 until February 2021. He became the chief minister of erstwhile J&K state during the 2006-08. He was elected to the Lok Sabha twice — in 1980 and 1984 — from the Washim constituency in Maharashtra.