Ghulam Nabi Azad likely to launch new party in Jammu rally today

Azad is likely to announce the formation of his new party at the rally.

The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister last week announced that he will launch a new party soon.

The first unit, he said, will be in Jammu and Kashmir where polls are due.

While media reports said the party led by Azad is likely to have the option to tie up with the BJP or mainstream parties in Jammu and Kashmir such as National Conference or PDP, the former Congress leader, however, said in an NDTV interview that there is "no question" of a tie-up with the BJP.

The 73-year-old leader quit the Congress days after he rejected a post in the party's Jammu and Kashmir unit, saying his recommendations for appointments had been ignored.

His exit prompted several Congress leaders from the Jammu and Kashmir unit to leave the party.

In a long letter to the party's interim president Sonia Gandhi, Azad, a long critic of the top brass, had called out Rahul Gandhi's political immaturity saying, "Unfortunately, after the entry of Rahul Gandhi into politics and particularly after January 2013, when he was appointed Vice President by you, the entire consultative mechanism which existed earlier was demolished by him."

"One of the most glaring examples of his immaturity was the tearing up of the government ordinance in the full glare of the media by Rahul Gandhi," he had said.

"This childish behaviour completely subverted the authority of the Prime Minister and the government of India," Azad had added.