Ghar-Wapsi of three prominent leaders of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) back into the Congress has left veteran politician Ghulam Nabi Azad with little but no choice to wind up his three-year-old political outfit.
Two former ministers — Jugal Kishore Sharma from Reasi district and Abdul Majid Wani from Doda — along with former MLC Subash Gupta from Kathua district, rejoined Congress on Wednesday in the presence of the party's top leadership.
Although DPAP senior leader Salman Nizami dubbed the trio as "deadwood," the three leaders who returned to the Congress are known staunch loyalists of Ghulam Nabi Azad, with two of them being mass leaders in their respective regions. Jugal Kishore Sharma and Abdul Majid Wani enjoy strong grassroots support and secured respectable votes in the 2024 Assembly elections.
While Jugal Kishore Sharma lost the election from the Mata Vaishno Devi Assembly constituency by a margin of less than 2,000 votes, Abdul Majid Wani also secured a respectable vote share from the Doda Assembly seat compared to other candidates of Ghulam Nabi Azad's party.
Three years after its inception, the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), founded by former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, appears to have reached a political dead end. Launched with high hopes in September 2022, the party has been weakened by electoral failures, mass defections, and a lack of organizational cohesion, with many of its leaders reportedly retreating into political hibernation.
Within months of its formation on September 26, 2022, staunch loyalists of Ghulam Nabi Azad began deserting the party.
On January 6, 2023, at least seventeen loyalists of Ghulam Nabi Azad — including two political stalwarts — rejoined the Congress. Former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, former J&K Congress chief Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, ex-MLA Thakur Balwan Singh, and others returned to the party.
On January 10, 2023, two more senior leaders resigned from the Azad-led Democratic Azad Party (DAP) in Jammu and Kashmir. Former MLC Nizamuddin Khatana, who was DAP's general secretary, and his son Gulzar Ahmad quit the party.
On August 7, 2023, three former legislators — Naresh K. Gupta from Bhaderwah, Sham Lal Bhagat from Doda, and Haji Abdul Rashid Dar from Sopore, Kashmir — returned to the Congress fold after quitting DPAP.
On September 7, 2024, another diehard loyalist of Azad, Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma, rejoined the Congress to contest the Assembly elections from the Billawar constituency.
On May 22, 2025, Ghulam Nabi Azad's close aide, former two-time legislator Mohammad Amin Bhat, also returned to Congress.
In a major setback to DPAP, Ghulam Mohiuddin Saroori and Taj Mohiuddin — two former ministers and staunch supporters of Azad — rejoined the Congress on June 27, 2025.
DPAP was formally established on September 26, 2022
The party emerged in the wake of Azad's dramatic exit from the Congress, where he had spent five decades. Positioned as a regional alternative in Jammu and Kashmir, DPAP aimed to fill the political vacuum created after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. However, its performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections was dismal, with the party failing to win a single seat. In the Assembly polls, DPAP contested 23 seats but failed to make a mark, with five candidates polling fewer votes than NOTA — a clear sign of public disapproval.
Compounding the party's woes, Azad dissolved all DPAP units — state, provincial, zonal, district, and block-level committees — on April 14, 2025, terming it a "restructuring" move.
Party leaders claimed the dissolution aimed to fill vacancies caused by mass resignations and to rejuvenate the organization with youth and women. However, political observers viewed it as a desperate attempt to salvage a sinking ship. "The dissolution was less about restructuring and more about admitting defeat," said a senior political analyst. "The party has lost its footing, and its leaders have either defected or gone silent."
While Azad has remained active on the national stage — representing Jammu and Kashmir in India's all-party delegations to Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria — his party's leadership has been conspicuously absent from regional politics.
Key leaders who were once Azad's trusted lieutenants have either rejoined the Congress or withdrawn from public life, leaving the party without a functional organizational structure. "The DPAP's leaders are in hibernation," remarked a former party member who recently rejoined the Congress. "There's no direction, no strategy, and no momentum."
"Only 'deadwood' rejoined Congress"
Senior DPAP leader Salman Nizami reacted to the recent defections, calling the leaders "deadwood." He claimed some had left the party, contested independently while using Azad's name, but lost by large margins. He added that former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had told these leaders to go anywhere, as he did not want the burden of such people again.
Nizami further said the Congress — weakened in many states, including J&K — cannot expect a revival by relying on such "deadwood." He also noted that the Congress lacks a strong face in J&K, with even its alliance partner, the National Conference (NC), not taking it seriously.
