Democratic Azad Party (DAP) chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday cautioned the leaders against groupism and said the party’s “agenda of peace and development” must reach to every person in Jammu and Kashmir.

Azad, a former J-K chief minister, was addressing the first meeting of the newly appointed office bearers and executive committee members of the party, which he floated in September last year after ending his five-decade-long association with the Congress.

“We cannot have groupism in our party like the Congress. We need to promote the culture of merit, appreciation and teamwork,” he said.

Stressing for the coordination among the partymen, he said, “Nepotism, favouritism and culture of groupism is not acceptable.” Azad directed the members to promote the core agenda of the party and reach out to the public at the grassroots.

“Our agenda of peace and development must reach every person of Union Territory. We need to engage with the people at ground level and make our workers understand about our ideology and agenda, and also highlight their problems” he said.

Azad, however, said land, jobs and the restoration of statehood are the primary issues that the DAP is focussing on.

“Statehood, jobs and land rights are the issues that we shall fight on primary basis and it is the duty of our newly elected office bearers to make the general public aware of it and subsequently take them on board in this political fight,” he told the office bearers.

A party leader said the issue of the administration order regarding vacating of the state land allotted under the Roshi Act and Kanchari land was also discussed.

In a circular issued on January 9, Commissioner Secretary, Revenue Department, Vijay Kumar Bidhuri directed all deputy commissioners to ensure 100 percent removal of encroachments from state land including Roshni and Kahcharai by the end of January.

Terming the order as “unfortunate”, Azad said he had provided the land under the Roshni scheme as the chief minister to the poor, needy and landless for building houses and cultivation but now the prevailing regime is snatching it back that too in harsh weather conditions.

He said the people of Jammu Kashmir are the first beneficiaries of its resources.

“Be it jobs or land, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have first rights over it. The government must understand it and spare the poor and landless people,” Azad said.

Meanwhile, the National Conference also condemned the “draconian order” and appealed to the administration for its immediate rollback in the larger interests of the public. PTI TAS AQS

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