SRINAGAR: The Congress high command has ordered an inquiry into growing factionalism within its Jammu and Kashmir unit and constituted a three-member committee to investigate reports of indiscipline and alleged anti-party activities.
The move comes amid an escalating confrontation between Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Tariq Hamid Karra and a rival group led by senior party leaders and former PCC chief Vikar Rasool Wani and former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand.
According to an official statement issued by AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the constitution of an enquiry committee with immediate effect. The panel will be headed by Shaktisinh Gohil, while Dr Amar Singh and Rafeek Khan will serve as members.
The inquiry follows weeks of public sparring within the party, with Wani making serious allegations against Karra. The former PCC chief has accused Karra of pursuing a “separatist agenda”, proposing the introduction of Pakistani currency in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, and misappropriating election funds. Karra has not publicly responded to the allegations.
Wani said the inquiry would examine the conduct of all factions within the party.
“It will investigate all the aspects. It is an inquiry against us as well as against Tariq Karra and Ghulam Ahmad Mir,” Wani said.
The factional divide has its roots in the political realignments that followed the resignation of senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad from the party in August 2022. Azad’s departure triggered an exodus of several Congress leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, including Tara Chand, who later joined Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP).
However, after the regional party failed to make a significant electoral impact, many leaders, including Tara Chand, returned to the Congress fold. Wani remained with the Congress and continued as PCC president until he was replaced by Karra in 2024.
Relations between the two camps have remained strained since then. Leaders aligned with Wani have accused Karra of marginalising senior party members, while Karra’s supporters have criticised the dissident group for undermining party unity.
According to party sources, the Congress leadership recently summoned key Jammu and Kashmir leaders to New Delhi in an effort to resolve internal differences. The meeting, chaired by KC Venugopal, was attended by Tariq Hamid Karra, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Raman Bhalla, Vikar Rasool Wani and Tara Chand.
During the meeting, leaders were reportedly instructed to maintain party discipline and refrain from making public statements against fellow party members. Venugopal is understood to have conveyed that indiscipline would not be tolerated and that no individual was above the party.
Speaking after the announcement of the inquiry committee, Shaktisinh Gohil said the panel would visit Jammu and Kashmir soon to interact with party leaders and gather information. He said the Congress high command would issue detailed guidelines for the inquiry next week and that efforts would be made to complete the exercise at the earliest.
Senior party leaders have expressed concern that continuing groupism is damaging the Congress organisation in Jammu and Kashmir at a time when the party is seeking to strengthen its political position in the Union Territory.
Party insiders maintain that the ongoing internal rivalry has become one of the most serious challenges facing the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir, with leaders acknowledging that the infighting is proving more damaging than opposition attacks.
