Days after the first Cabinet expansion in Jammu and Kashmir, an unseemly war of words has begun in the Congress between its two seniormost leaders in the state — Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, and ex-Union minister Saifuddin Soz.

Without taking names, each has taken on the other, with Azad accusing Soz of destabilising the Congress-National Conference coalition in the state, and Soz rubbishing the same.

Though the two leaders are old rivals, the latest spat was prompted by Azad’s indignation at some of his loyalists being kept out of the Cabinet in the recent expansion.

In a strongly worded statement which didn’t name Soz, the Union Health Minister implied that JKPCC chief Soz’s induction into national politics was an accident. Talking about “a senior party leader” who was unaware of the policies of the Congress, Azad said: “He doesn’t have any following even in his own constituency and is befooling the NC, Congress and Peoples’ Democratic Party by trying to destabilise the coalition government in the state.” He also accused the leader of spreading rumours about him.

Soz, who is in New Delhi, reacted as sharply. “A section of the press in J-K has published the statement of a senior leader casting insinuations on my integrity and probity. It gives the impression that I was behind stories that got published in newspapers suggesting the role of a senior leader in destabilising the Congress-NC alliance,” Soz said.

“A two-page document full of ire against my person is unbecoming of a senior leader. I categorically say that I had not spoken to anybody in the press regarding warming up of a person towards the PDP to destabilise the NC-Congress coalition. I have no knowledge on the background of these stories,” he said.

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