Amid speculation that Ghulam Nabi Azad could be floating his own party, the senior Congress leader on Sunday said he has no plans for a separate party now but could not say what would happen in the future.
Mr. Azad, who is a part of the Congress’s group of 23 leaders that has sought internal reforms in the party (the “G-23”), has been holding public rallies across Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), leading to speculation about floating his own outfit.
Stating that he had no such plans for now, he told NDTV, “No one can say what will happen next in politics, like no one knows when he will die.”
The veteran Congress leader also said, unlike in the past when divergent views in the party were encouraged, his party does not appreciate such criticism.
“No one is challenging the leadership. Perhaps, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv ji had given me too much freedom to question when things were going wrong. They would never mind criticism. They would not see it as offensive. Today, the leadership sees it as offensive,” Mr. Azad was quoted as saying by NDTV.
‘No to nobody’
“When Rajiv ji joined politics, Indira Gandhi called both of us and told Rajiv ji that Ghulam Nabi can even say ‘no’ to me, but that ‘no’ doesn’t mean disobedience or disrespect, that’s for the good of the party. Today, no one is ready to listen to that ‘no’. For saying ‘no’, you become nobody today,” he quipped.
