The Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is taking unusual interest in state politics.  From the last one year as he has been visiting the state frequently giving rise to speculations that the former chief minister is trying a comeback in state politics.

Azad managed to visit the state thrice during the last one month. He has remained in close touch with state Congress leaders especially in Jammu region. First he visited his home district Doda last month and in the first week of this month visited Jammu to address a Congress rally and unveiled the statue of Maharaja Hari Singh in front of Shiv Temple at Tawi Bridge. Azad returned to Jammu within a fortnight, addressed a Congress rally at Billawar and also a one-day convention of backward classes union at Sidhra, Jammu. At the occasion the Backward Classes Union including its office bearers and district and tehsil units merged in the Congress party. These actions point towards Azad’s efforts towards consolidating his support base in the state especially in the Jammu region. Sources in the Congress party say that with “NC losing ground in Kashmir and PDP emerging as a viable alternative to it, Azad will keep his cards open” after the next Assembly elections. The party would like to create a situation in the state in which it can be a major stakeholder in the formation of the next government, they added.

Even when the Congress High Command has not shown any inclination to topple the Omar Abdullah government, he apparently seems to be cozying up to the PDP leadership.  To ascertain his writ in the state politics Azad is reportedly pushing to get a couple of his loyalists in the expected cabinet reshuffle. And by doing so he may strengthen his position among the party leaders in the state besides silencing his rivals. Azad got one of his loyalists elected to Upper House at the cost of annoying a veteran Congress leader.

Azad will be a strong contender for the chief minister’s post if Congress manages to win 25 seats in the next Assembly elections. And that is not a far-fetched hope as the BJP is in disarray in Jammu region after the cross-voting scandal in the Assembly. The BJP has expelled six MLAs, including veteran leader Prof Chaman Lal Gupta from party. Congress can only make hey in such a situation. And Azad is too experienced a leader to miss that.

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