Ghulam Nabi Azad withdraws from the Anantnag-Rajouri altercation

The Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) said on Wednesday that Ghulam Nabi Azad, the party’s head, will not run for the crucial Anantnag-Rajouri seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Rather, activist Mohammad Saleem Parray has been selected by the party to run for office.

The decision to field Parray was made unanimously, according to the party’s president for Kashmir, Muhammad Amin Bhat. He claimed that since he is the party’s nominee for chief minister, Azad would run in the assembly elections.

Ghulam Nabi Azad’s first significant test of popularity in Jammu and Kashmir after leaving the Congress in 2022 was the campaign for the Rajouri-Anantnag seat.

The DPAP declared Azad their candidate for the seat on April 2. But now that Azad has withdrawn from the race, senior leader of the National Conference, Mian Altaf and head of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mehbooba Mufti, will face off for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat.

Bhat said that even though Azad was the party’s original choice to run for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, the party was obliged to adopt a different position due to unforeseen circumstances.

“Azad has been touring the Doda region of Jammu for the past ten days,” Bhat said. “During the campaign, the public’s comments caused him to reevaluate his desire to become a member of parliament. They questioned his choice to concentrate on the parliament rather than Jammu & Kashmir. It isn’t about the possibility of failing. Although we have organized the largest demonstrations in South Kashmir, Azad wanted to stay in J&K in order to provide direct assistance to the people.