Democratic Azad Party: All about the new party formed by Ghulam Nabi Azad

Ghulam Nabi Azad, who bitterly parted ways with the Congress recently, launched his new party - the Democratic Azad Party - in Jammu on Monday. Here are the highlights of the new party

• Ghulam Nabi Azad said his party will be called the Democratic Azad Party (DAP). He also unveiled its flag which has three colours - mustard, white and blue.
• Azad said the DAP will focus on "strengthening" peace and normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir. He said it would focus on the restoration of full statehood, right to land, and employment to native domiciles.
• Azad said his party's name symbolises democracy and freedom of speech and thought.
• Azad said around 1,500 names were suggested to him in Urdu, Hindi and Sanskrit. He chose this one which has a Hindustani word.
• He said the ideology of the party will be based on the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi.
• The DAP will have "no competition" with any other political party. This is the answer to taunts that his new party would ultimately benefit the BJP
• The new party comes exactly a month after Azad resigned from the Congress party.
• Azad - who was the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and a Union Cabinet minister - ended his more than five-decade-long association with the Congress on August 26.
• Over two dozen prominent Congress leaders in J&K, including former deputy chief minister Tara Chand, had resigned from the Congress in support of Azad.
• Azad has been saying he wants to start a national party, but the J&K unit was formed as the first priority because elections are likely to be held there in the near future.

Azad is set to fight the forthcoming Assembly elections in the union territory on his own. So far, he has been maintaining distance from both the BJP and the regional mainstream parties of J&K.