Veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday said the party's victory in the upcoming assembly polls in four states and a union territory (West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry) is of top priority.
Amid turmoil within the grand old party that has pitted apparent dissenters like him against the Gandhis and their loyalists, Azad said he will campaign for the Congress ahead of elections wherever he would be invited.
"The victory of Congress party in the forthcoming state elections is a priority. I will be campaigning wherever I will be invited by the party or individual," news agency ANI quoted Azad as saying.
This comes after Congress party workers burnt an effigy of Ghulam Nabi Azad and raised slogans against him in a protest in Jammu. Reportedly, Azad had praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G-23 event in the state saying that he speaks frankly about his past as a tea-seller and never tried to hide his background from the world.
Targeting Azad, Shahnawaz Choudhary, General Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee said Congress has always held him in high esteem but today when it is time to support the party, Azad forged a friendship with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Another Congress worker, Aijaz Choudhary, Vice President of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee said, "Ghulam Nabi Azad praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi who took our statehood and people like him become the reason for making Congress weak." "Azad should have guided the party with his experience in politics to resurrect the party and not weaken it," Choudhary added.
Recently, the BJP has also taken a swipe at the Congress for "castigating" dissenters like Azad. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said that the Congress will "castigate" anyone who wants democracy in the party, wants its president to be elected, speaks in favour of politics of development or stands with Modi's rightful agenda.
