Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Anantnag -Rajouri constituency, his party Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) said.
While a tweet from a close aide of the Gandhi's and the Chief Whip of the party in Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh took a dig on Azad for accepting the award, Congress stalwarts from the G-23 group have congratulated him for the 'well-deserved' award.
The 71-year-old Congress leader shared the information on Twitter and asked those who came in contact with him in the recent past to follow protocols on self-quarantine and testing.
Besides Azad, two PDP and one BJP candidate won.
Union health minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday filed his nomination papers for the Udhampur-Doda parliamentary constituency.
Months after exiting the decades-long association with the Congress party, Azad said that he was not against its policy of secularism, but its weak party system.
The Congress on Wednesday said senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was consulted several times before finalising the names in the revamped Jammu and Kashmir unit of the party, rejecting reports that the former Union minister was not on board.
In his maiden rally in Kashmir Valley after quitting the Congress last month, he said only a government with a two-thirds majority in Parliament can ensure the restoration of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier, only Azad was scheduled to meet Sonia Gandhi.
Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is contesting first election of his political career, was up for a surprise on Thursday as he was asked by a polling officer in Jammu to prove his identity to cast vote after the senior Congress leader failed to furnish his voter card.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday resigned from all party positions, including its primary membership, delivering another blow to the embattled party that has seen a series of leaders leave it.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, in his first public meeting in Jammu after quitting Congress, announced to launch his own political outfit that will focus on the restoration of full statehood.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi Tuesday appointed former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad as the party's campaign committee chief in the union territory, but he declined the offer.
He laid stress on workers' connection with the ground and cited his own example when he was party in-charge for various assembly elections in the past.
Ghulam Nabi Azad remarked that the figures are not high enough to know whether the people are happy or angry with the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories, Mehbooba Mufti said it is a message that the people have not accepted the Centre's decisions.
Sources said they will discuss the party's poor performance at the hustings and will evolve their future strategy.
'A man who has been treated with the greatest respect by the Congress leadership has betrayed it by his vicious personal attacks which reveals his true character. GNA's DNA has been Modi-fied,' Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh tweeted.
'After such a long career, courtesy entirely the party he's been tasked to slander, by giving interviews indiscriminately, Mr. Azad diminishes himself further'
The Opposition party also attacked Azad, saying "Mr. GNA himself gives new evidence of his DNA mutation by saying 'those opposing Article 370 abrogation ignorant of the situation on the ground'."
Azad ended his five-decade association with the Congress last month, saying the party was comprehensively destroyed and lashing out at Rahul Gandhi for "demolishing" its entire consultative mechanism.
'Nothing has been removed or added to my Twitter profile. The profile is as it was earlier'
Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad are both set to enter the Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir. Congress president Sonia Gandhi cleared their names and both the Congress leaders would be filing their nomination papers on Tuesday.
"It was partly in response to Tikait's tears that he decided he also has tears," Tharoor said
'Wait for more action the day after (the Friday meeting).'
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was on Monday named as the Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, while Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad was declared the Leader of the Opposition.
Singling out a person for the defeat in 2014 would not be right, Pilot said.
Their shared brief: To assert India's case with clarity, rebut hostile narratives, and secure enduring partnerships for global counter-terror cooperation.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings of the committee as a special invitee, while legal affairs secretary Niten Chandra will be secretary to the panel.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday accused Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad of making casteist remarks against Narendra Modi by referring to the backward community to which the Gujarat chief minister belongs and demanded an apology from him as well as the Congress.
The Congress on Friday called senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation 'unfortunate' and termed the timing 'awful', saying it has come at a time when the party is engaged in combating the Bharatiya Janata Party on various issues.
The Congress on Tuesday slammed the government's move to remove governors appointed during the United Progressive Alliance tenure as "political vendetta" and said the "dictatorial" step will have "serious repercussions".
The panel may recommend amending at last five articles of the Constitution to enable holding of simultaneous polls in the country.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday alleged that Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had placed wrong facts in the Lok Sabha on 15 occasions in the last three years and insisted it will move a Privilege Motion against him for "misleading" the House. BJP Member of Parliament from West Champaran Sanjay Jaiswal told reporters that Azad has been misleading the House for the past three years on issues.
The delegations led by Baijayant Panda, Ravi Shankar Prasad (both Bharatiya Janata Party), Sanjay Kumar Jha (Janata Dal-United), Shrikant Shinde (Shiv Sena), Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Kanimozhi (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and Supriya Sule (Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Pawar) will visit a total of 32 countries and the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
While the Union finance minister has opted out of the election race -- one of the many Congress bigwigs who are not very confident of their electoral prospects this time around, Ghulam Nabi Azad has volunteered to contest from the Udhampur seat even though he is a sitting Rajya Sabha member. Anita Katyal reports on the Congress' fourth list of Lok Sabha candidates that was released late on Thursday night.
It comes a day after party chief Sonia Gandhi proposed, at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the formation of a group to assess the party's losses in Kerala, Assam, West Bengal and Puducherry.
With cases of swine flu on the rise in the country, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Wednesday that the number of testing laboratories has been increased from two to 18 and hoped that India will be able to develop the vaccine ahead of other nations. "We can now get the testing facility in 18 laboratories instead of two," Azad said in response to a calling attention motion on the matter in Rajya Sabha
Asserting that human rights violations will not be tolerated, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday defended the firing by security forces on protestors in Kupwara.
The long-awaited Rahul Gandhi touch to the All India Congress Committee was imparted today with the induction of a few general secretaries and the dropping of some
Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Congress on Friday marked the most high-profile exit of one of the "Group of 23" (G-23) leaders, who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi two years ago for a "collective and inclusive leadership" in the organisation, exposing the faultlines in the grand old party.
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