Subhechcha Ganguly 
Mohammad Amin Bhat, a two-time former legislator and close associate of Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chief Ghulam Nabi Azad, rejoined the Congress on Wednesday. Bhat had resigned from DPAP a few days earlier and formally returned to the Congress at a function held in Anantnag. The event was attended by senior Congress leaders, including Jammu & Kashmir unit president Tariq Hameed Karra and national general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir.
Calling the move his “homecoming,” Bhat said, “Congress is my family, and I am back in it.” He had unsuccessfully contested the previous assembly elections on a DPAP ticket. Ghulam Ahmad Mir welcomed his return, stating it would strengthen the party’s presence in south Kashmir, where the Congress, in alliance with the National Conference (NC), had won two assembly seats.
The Congress currently holds six seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly—five from the Valley and one from Rajouri. Meanwhile, DPAP, which was founded by Azad in September 2022 after ending his five-decade-long association with the Congress, suffered a major setback in the assembly polls, failing to win any of the 25 seats it contested. Following the defeat, DPAP dissolved all its organizational units in April and has remained largely inactive since, despite initial claims of restructuring.
