Over three years after launching his political outfit with much fanfare, veteran leader and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad appears to be allowing his loyalists to rejoin the Indian National Congress.
Instead of strengthening his party, Azad seems to be quietly permitting it to fade from the political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir.
The rejoining of former minister Choudhary Gharu Ram in the Congress is being seen as a clear indication that Azad's Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) is gradually disappearing from the political scene in the Union Territory.
Choudhary Gharu Ram was among the handful of prominent leaders who had remained with the DPAP even after several big faces and staunch loyalists of Azad—namely Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, Jugal Kishore Sharma, and Abdul Majid Wani—had quit the party.
Political circles are abuzz with speculation that Azad himself may be quietly nudging his loyalists to seek political rehabilitation elsewhere. With the former Chief Minister appearing to withdraw from active politics, insiders say he does not want the careers of his long-time supporters to wither in a party that is rapidly losing relevance.
In November 2025, former ministers Jugal Kishore Sharma (Reasi) and Abdul Majid Wani (Doda), along with former MLC Subash Gupta (Kathua), rejoined the Congress in the presence of the party's top leadership. All three leaders had been close associates of Azad for decades. Their exit came months after another prominent aide, Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, returned to the Congress in June 2025.
Founded on September 26, 2022, in the aftermath of Azad's resignation from the Congress, DPAP was projected as a regional alternative for Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the political landscape that emerged after the abrogation of the revocation of Article 370. However, three years later, the party appears to have reached a political dead end.
The signs of decline had begun early. On January 6, 2023, seventeen of Azad's trusted colleagues—including former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand and former Congress president Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed—returned to the Congress fold. Just four days later, on January 10, another senior leader, former MLC Nizamuddin Khatana, along with his son, resigned from the party.
On September 7, 2024, veteran loyalist Manohar Lal Sharma returned to the Congress to contest the Assembly elections from Billawar.
On June 27, 2025, former ministers Ghulam Mohiuddin Saroori and Taj Mohiuddin—two of Azad's closest confidants—also returned to the Congress fold.
The party's electoral performance further deepened its troubles. DPAP failed to win even a single seat in both the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Of the 23 Assembly constituencies it contested, five candidates secured fewer votes than the None of the Above (NOTA) option—an indication of the party's declining public support.
In what many observers viewed as an admission of internal collapse, Azad dissolved all DPAP committees—state, provincial, zonal, district, and block—on April 14, 2025. While the official explanation described the move as a "restructuring exercise", political observers termed it a desperate attempt to revive a sinking organisation.
"The dissolution was less restructuring and more surrender," said a senior political analyst. "Most leaders had either defected or gone silent. The party was hollowed out from within."
Azad, meanwhile, has remained active on the national and international stage and has participated in India's all-party delegations to Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria. However, his prolonged absence from regional politics has further weakened the DPAP's leadership on the ground.
With many of his once-trusted lieutenants either returning to the Congress or withdrawing from public life, DPAP today appears hollow and directionless. As one former member who recently rejoined the Congress remarked, 'There's no direction, no strategy, and no momentum.' Most DPAP leaders are in political hibernation."
Karra welcomes Azad loyalist into Congress
Choudhary Gharu Ram, along with his supporters, rejoined the Congress in the presence of Tariq Hameed Karra, president of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC), on Monday.
He was welcomed into the party by Karra and other senior leaders. Gharu Ram had joined the DPAP after its formation in 2023.
Party leaders described his return to the Congress as a "homecoming" and said they would work collectively to strengthen the party, which they believe alone can ensure justice for all sections of society and maintain unity and harmony.
