Former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, once known as a non-controversial politician, seems to be wedded to controversies since his stint as chief minister of the state.
Though on his return to New Delhi Azad chose a seemingly non-controversial health ministry, but he ended up in bigger controversies with his statements on the outbreak of swine flow.
Now again Azad is in controversy, and back in Kashmir, for being in Kashmir “too much”. After news reports of his “frequent visits” making some politicians jittery, Azad issued a statement denying that he had any secret meeting with PDP, his erstwhile ally.
“During last fifteen months he has not even talked to them on telephone and there is no question of having a secret meeting with them,” a statement issued by state information department quoting Azad said. It was directed to clear the misconception that during his last visit Azad had “secret meetings” with PDP president Ms Mehbooba Mufti and Muzaffar Hussain Baig.
The tone and tenor of the “denial was aimed at explaining things” rather than rejecting the presumed happenings.
“The newspaper report that Mr Azad is making frequent visits to Srinagar is again contrary to real facts as his present visit to Srinagar was after a gap of many months,” the statement said. It added that the arrival of union ministers to home states is always frequent as most of the ministers normally come on each Saturday and Sunday to their home state to take stock of the development activities and it has been precedence during the past with majority of the ministers here.
Azad has had a love-hate relationship with the PDP that actually pulled the rugs from his feet and toppled his two and a half years government in wake of 2008’s summer disturbances. In his relationship with PDP, he had maintained a distance from Mufti Sayeed, his one time mentor.
