Is Congress chief in J&K working against the party?

NEW DELHI: Months after Vikar Rasool Wani was nominated by the Congress high command as the PCC chief in Jammu & Kashmir, the party seems to be struggling in keeping its flock together in the state. Many party leaders The Sunday Guardian talked to blamed the inefficiency of Wani. They further blamed him of playing vandetta politics. A source seeking anonymity said, “I was distanced from party politics after being accused of having voted for Shashi Tharoor and not Mallikarjun Kharge in the recently held Congress’ internal presidential elections.”
The reasons for that, sources said, is his continued relationship with former Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is trying to build his newly launched party by luring the remaining leaders left in the Congress with the help of Wani. Moreover, there is also political gossip doing the rounds in the party that Wani has met the “Azad group” recently in a Kashmir circuit house, giving further rise to the speculation.
Some of the Congress leaders who have been working with Wani say that originally, he was on Azad’s side and was made president on his recommendation. “Finally, when he was appointed as the chief, Azad left the party immediately with his lot and Wani was the only person left on this side (Congress) from that group,” a senior Congress leader said.
The leader further added, “As it appears, whoever is with him today are not completely with him nor were they with him in Azad’s time and that could be the reason he feels alienated in the party now. He might be feeling that all his life, he has been against the non-Azad group and now he has become a part of it. He may not be satisfied. There are those people who want to work with him closely but they are feeling uncomfortable.” With this, there is also an understanding that if the leadership does not make a rapid decision in addressing the issue, it may lead to a third set of defections. The first wave of defections happened when a section of partymen were demanding the change of the then state unit president, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, when he was the state unit chief for more than 5 years. Most of the leaders then, according to party leaders, went to Aam Aadmi Party. Another set of defections were lead by Azad who later formed his own state party.
Ghulam Ahmed Mir, a former chief of the party, told The Sunday Guardian, “I think the national leadership should take an overall review of the party and reckon the situation in which he was made the chief of the party, as those circumstances have changed after Azad, along with his supporters, left the party. Now the leadership should gauge present circumstances to know how the party can come out of it in a fitting manner so that we can strongly face them.”
He further added, “The leadership should also assess how many leaders are there who need to be boosted in order to build the future of the party. And that decision should be taken by the leadership. I can only say this so that they themselves assess the situation by talking to different leaders in different regions to reach some conclusion which will eventually strengthen the party.”