Srinagar: In a major shake-up of its Jammu and Kashmir unit, the Congress on Tuesday appointed Vikar Rasool Wani as the party’s J&K chief and senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad the head of the campaign committee.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has accepted the resignation of Ghulam Ahmed Mir from the post of president, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee, a party statement said.
The Congress president has appointed the president and working president of the J&K unit and also constituted the campaign committee, political affairs committee, coordination committee, manifesto committee, publicity and publication committee, disciplinary committee and Pradesh election committee of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) with immediate effect, the statement said.
While Wani has been appointed president of the J&K unit, Raman Bhalla has been named the party’s working president in the UT.
Wani is seen to be close to former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was part of the Group of 23 leaders who wrote to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking a large-scale organisational overhaul.
Azad has been appointed as the chairman of the campaign committee in the Union Territory.
Tariq Hamid Karra will be the vice-chairman of the campaign committee while G M Saroori will be its convenor, according to the statement.
The campaign committee comprises 11 leaders with PCC president and working president its permanent invitees.
Gandhi also set up a political affairs committee with Karra as its chairman and it included the likes of Azad, Mir and Saifuddin Soz.
The political affairs committee comprises nine leaders with AICC In-charge, PCC president and working president being permanent invitees in the panel.
The party also formed an 11-member coordination committee headed by Mir, 12-member manifesto committee under the chairmanship of Soz and nine-member publicity and publication panel led by Mula Ram.
A seven member disciplinary committee has been formed with Taj Mohiuddin as the chairman.
A Pradesh Election Committee headed by PCC chief has also been set up.
Meanwhile, the Congress high command’s decision to appoint Vikar Rasool as head of Jammu & Kashmir unit has triggered a rebellion within the Pradesh Congress Committee with former MLA Sopore Abdur Rashid Dar resigning from basic membership of the party.
Talking to KNO, Dar, who represented Sopore twice in Assembly, said that he has resigned from the party over appointment of Vikar Rasool as PCC head.
“Vikar is not acceptable to us. They should have appointed a senior leader as PCC head. I am a 40-year old Congress worker. How can I accept a junior like Vikar as my head?” asked Dar.
