Kathua- Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) candidate for Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha constituency, Ghulam Muhammad Saroori filed his nomination papers for the elections with returning officers at DC office here on Tuesday.
He was accompanied by party chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad and DPAP leader from Kathua Indu to file the nomination papers.
After filing nomination papers Saroori along with other leaders addressed a rally in Ramlila ground where people welcomed Ghulam Nabi Azad with slogans and loud cheers. DPAP General Secretaries R S Chib and Abdul Majeed Wani, provincial president Jugal Kishore Sharma and other party leaders were also present in the rally.
This is the first election for DPAP after it was formed by Azad in 2022 when he ended his over 40 years association with Congress party after developing differences with Rahul Gandhi’s working. Through these elections, Azad and his party will come to know where they stand and how much he has been able to convince the people about his formation of party.
Addressing the rally, Azad sought votes from people on the basis of the work done by him in the past when he served Jammu and Kashmir as Chief Minister from 2005 to 2008 and when he was union health minister in Manmohan Singh led UPA government at the centre.
“During my tenure, I focused on overall development of the state and didn’t leave any area without development. Since independence Jammu and Kashmir had only three medical colleges and I gave five new medical colleges when I was union health minister. I focused on construction of roads, schools, promotion of tourism and other things during my stint as CM and everyone was benefitted,” Azad said.
The DPAP was critical of those leaders and parties who for the sake of politics abuse other leaders and parties. “There are both positives and negatives about leaders and parties but we should not abuse anybody. Leaders should criticize the policies of parties and governments and should rise above religious politics,” he said, adding that leaders should have control on their way of talking.
He gave an example of healthy competition between candidates appearing in competitive examinations like IAS, JKAS and others where candidates who get less marks don’t abuse those who get selected but they keep working hard to achieve what others have achieved.
Seeking votes in favour of Saroori, Azad said, “I am known for my work all over the country and no leader has been able to beat me in this regard. But there is only one leader who is above me in reaching out to the people and doing great work and he is Saroori sb. He wakes up early and covers every nook and corner of his area. If he is elected from this seat, get ready to welcome him everywhere.”
He asked people to choose between leaders who can shake the walls of parliament and those who sleep there. “It is not a secret anymore that a few MPs sleep in the Parliament and few shake it. You will have to choose which one should represent you,” the DPAP chairman said.
Earlier, Saroori along with his supporters reached Kathua from Jammu in a huge cavalcade of vehicles and straight away drove to the DC office to file nomination papers.
Besides, an independent candidate Mohd Ali Gujjar filed his nomination papers in the office of the returning officer for the constituency at Kathua, an official spokesman said.
With filing of two nominations, the total number of candidates has gone up to seven including Union minister Jitendra Singh who is seeking re-election for the third term.
Congress candidate Choudhary Lal Singh is scheduled to file his nomination papers on the last day for filing of nomination on March 27.
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