Ghulam Nabi Azad backs out of Anantnag-Rajouri fight

Srinagar, April 17

Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) on Wednesday announced that the party chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad will not be contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from the critical Anantnag-Rajouri seat. Instead, the party has chosen advocate Mohammad Saleem Parray as its candidate.

The party’s Kashmir president, Mohammad Amin Bhat, said that the decision to field Parray was unanimous. He said Azad will be fighting Assembly elections as he is the party’s Chief Minister candidate.

The race for the Rajouri-Anantnag seat was Ghulam Nabi Azad’s first major test of popularity in Jammu and Kashmir since he left from Congress in 2022.

On April 2, DPAP announced that Azad would be their candidate for the seat. However, with Azad stepping down from the contest, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference senior leader Mian Altaf are now set to compete for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat.

Bhat said although the party had initially launched a campaign with Azad as its candidate for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, circumstances have forced the party to take different view.

“Azad has spent the past ten days touring the Doda region of Jammu,” Bhat said. “During the campaign, the feedback he received from the people made him reconsider his parliamentary ambitions. They questioned why he was aiming for parliament rather than focusing on Jammu and Kashmir itself.” “It’s not about the threat of defeat. We’ve held the biggest rallies in South Kashmir, but the issue is that Azad wanted to remain in J&K to assist the people directly.”