India / I'll join BJP when we have black snow in Kashmir: Ghulam Nabi Azad

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is retiring from the Rajya Sabha next week, said that he will join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when there is "black snow in Kashmir".

"I will join the BJP when we have black snow in Kashmir. Why BJP — that’s the day I’ll join any other party. Those who say this or spread these rumours, they don’t know me," Azad told The Hindustan Times. 

Azad said he has known PM Narendra Modi since the 90s, fought with him and even shared a cup of tea. He also highlighted his cordial relations with late former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee but rubbished rumours of joining their party.

In his 28-minute farewell speech in the Upper House of Parliament on February 9, Azad, 71, had recited several couplets and hoped for the restoration of peace in Jammu and Kashmir and the return of Kashmiri Pandits back to the Valley.

Azad recalled his long association with Parliament beginning from 1980 and also his experiences as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. He retraced his political journey beginning from the Bhalesa block in Doda district.

Azad was among the four members in the Rajya Sabha to be given an emotional farewell by the House.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had turned emotional in Rajya Sabha while recalling his close association with Congress leader Azad. Reminiscing about their long association, Modi said that as chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat, both of them kept in touch.

Azad and Nazir Ahmed Laway (PDP) are due to retire on February 15 while the terms of Mir Mohammad Fayaz (PDP) and Shamsher Singh Manhas (BJP) ended on February 10. 

The six years’ term of all the Rajya Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir is coming to an end during the current session of Parliament and there is going to be no representation in the Upper House from the Union Territory till the time a Legislative Assembly gets constituted after elections.