Another blow to Congress, senior J-K leader Ashok Sharma resigns from party

Jammu: Congress leader and former legislator from Jammu and Kashmir Ashok Sharma on Saturday wrote to party president Sonia Gandhi and resigned from the organisation.

The national coordinator of the All India Congress Committee's 'Vichar Vibhag' and a member Pradesh Executive Committee, stated that he took the "painful" decision due to the "prevailing situation and unavoidable circumstances".

His resignation came close on the heels of an ex-deputy chief minister, eight former ministers, an ex-MP, nine legislators and a large number of Panchayati Raj Institution members, municipal corporators and grassroots workers from across Jammu and Kashmir left the Congress to join the Ghulam Nabi Azad camp.

In his letter, Sharma who had won the assembly elections from Kalakote constituency of Rajouri district in 1996, said, "I loved my party from the core of my heart and fought for building it at the grass-root level for decades together from smaller territorial units to many states of the country."