Before Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad loyalists rejoin Congress

Seventeen former leaders of the Democratic Azad Party (DAP), including ex-deputy chief minister Tara Chand and ex-PCC chief Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, on Friday returned to the Congress fold and were welcomed back by the party which said they were on a "leave of two months".

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal welcomed the leaders, saying it was a happy day for the party as they were returning back to their home ahead of the Bharat Jodo Yatra which will enter Jammu and Kashmir after two weeks.

"The Bharat Jodo Yatra has become a big movement in the country and that is why all these leaders have decided to come back to the Congress fold," he told reporters.

"This is only a beginning and when the Yatra is entering Jammu and Kashmir, all people with Congress ideology and who want a united India will join the party. I think, they had gone on a leave for two months," he said.

Asked whether there are any talks with DAP chief Ghulam Nabi Azad to return to the Congress fold, Venugopal said he has himself denied any such talks.

Asked about the reasons to quit the Congress, Tara Chand said, "We got carried away by emotions and friendship and quit the party in haste".

On why they rejoined, he said, "We were not comfortable" in DAP as we have spent 50 years of our life in the Congress and realised our mistake".