Days after veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad quit the party, over 50 Congress leaders have tendered their resignation to rally behind the rebel leader, who left the party by levelling serious charges against the leadership, particularly against Rahul Gandhi. The development shocked the party and has come when Azad is in the process of launching his new political party. 

According to reports, all these 50 leaders belong to the Jammu and Kashmir Congress unit and the league includes former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, who resigned from the party to show support to Ghulam Nabi Azad. They submitted a joint resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday.

These leaders, including former ministers of J&K Abdul Majid Wani, Manohar Lal Sharma, Gharu Ram, and former MLA Balwan Singh, announced their resignations from the primary membership of the party at a press conference. Speaking to the reporters, Balwan Singh said, "We have submitted a joint resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in support of Azad." 

Soon, these leaders will be joining Azad's new party. 73-year-old Azad ended his five-decade association with the Congress last Friday. In his five-page letter to Sonia Gandhi, Azad slammed Rahul Gandhi for demolishing the party's consultative mechanism. He also lashed out at Rahul Gandhi's immaturity. Azad was part of G23 or the group of dissenters against the Congress party's leadership and his resignation has come a few months after a similar resignation of senior leader Kapil Sibal. 

After quitting Congress, Azad announced that he is going to float a new political party and that his new political journey will begin from his home turf of Jammu and Kashmir. As Jammu and Kashmir would go for the assembly elections later this year, Azad is planning to contest the polls against the Congress party. He hasn't announced the exact period of when he would launch the party.  

Earlier while speaking to PTI, Azad said, "I am in no hurry as of now to launch a national party but keeping in mind that elections are likely to be held in Jammu and Kashmir, I have decided to launch a unit there soon." By refusing to comment further on his new party, Azad said, "I have thought about this decision for long and there is no going back."