Jammu: In perfect consonance with the “season of homecomings”, former minister Dr Manohar Lal Sharma, within a month after his expulsion, rejoined Democratic Azad Party (DAP) after the party supremo and the former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad along with other party colleagues visited his residence on Thursday evening.
On December 22, 2022, DAP chairman (Azad) had expelled former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Manohar Lal Sharma and Balwan Singh for anti-party activities.
While former Deputy Chief Minister and Balwan Singh, joined by former JKPCC chief and ex minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, rejoined their parent party Congress on January 6 in the union capital, Dr Manohar, who had earlier expressed shock on his expulsion, adopted ‘wait-n-watch’ strategy.
We welcome Ex Minister Dr Manohar Lal Sharma ji back in DAP. He is a great asset for the party for being a leader of unimpeachable integrity! pic.twitter.com/eJKykTRgzD
— Ghulam Nabi Azad (@ghulamnazad) January 12, 2023
Tara Chand and others, while returning to parent party fold, had said that they were rectifying their mistake (leaving Congress) which they made as they were carried away by the friendship and loyalty towards the former Chief Minister (Azad).
“Manohar, however, neither spoke against Azad nor showed any inclination to return to Congress. This paved the way for the reconciliation, the groundwork for which was being done by the party colleagues. Today it fructified in the reunion. DAP chairman made it a point to visit Manohar Lal himself to soothe the frayed nerves and it worked favourably,” one of the witnesses to the DAP reunion said.
Sources close to Manohar Lal stated that the leader, considered as mass base leader in Billawar which he represented in the Legislative Assembly, was getting offers from various other parties including AAP.
“BJP too was weighing its options in this connection, however, this turn came for good,” he said.
Azad, during his visit to Manohar’s residence, was accompanied by DAP general secretary R S Chib and other party colleagues viz former ministers G M Saroori, Abdul Majeed Wani, Jugal Kishore Sharma, ex-MLA Ashok Sharma, DAP spokesperson Salman Nizami besides others.